Meet You There
by ahi182
Summary: on hiatus..go to profile for details
1. Default Chapter

**I'll Meet You There**

Chapter One

* * *

Now you're gone

I wonder why

You left me here

I think about it on and on and on again

I know you're never coming back

I hope that you can hear me

I'm waiting to hear from you

Until I do your gone away

I'm left alone 

a part of me is gone

And I'm not moving on so wait for me

I know the day will come

I'll meet you there 

no matter where life takes me to

I'll meet you there

And even if I need you here

I'll meet you there

                                                                                         * * * 

_'Come on, you can do better than that!' he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. _

_The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest._

_The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais. _

_It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place. _

_Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing-Sirius had just fallen through the archway; he would reappear from the other side any second…_

_But Sirius did not reappear._

_'SIRIUS!' Harry yelled. 'SIRIUS!'_

_He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he Harry, would pull him back out…_

_But as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back. _

_'There's nothing you can do, Harry –'_

_'Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!'_

_' –it's too late, Harry.'_

_'We can still reach him – ' Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go…_

_'There's nothing you can do, Harry…nothing…he's gone.'_

_'He hasn't gone!' Harry yelled_

_He did not believe it; he would not believe it; still he fought Lupin with every bit of strength he had. Lupin did not understand; people hid behind that curtain; Harry had heard them whispering the first time he had entered the room. Sirius was hiding, simply lurking out of sight – _

_'SIRIUS!' he bellowed. 'SIRIUS!'_

_'He can't come back, Harry' said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. 'He can't come back because he's d—' _

_'HE – IS – NOT - DEAD!' roared Harry. 'SIRIUS!' _

'SIRIUS!" Harry woke with a start in bed, in a cold sweat, tears were mingled with the droplets on his face. Harry put his face in his hands, he'd been replaying that moment over and over in his head every minute of the day, and every night he'd see it in his dreams. Would he ever get through this? 

* * *

"What is _wrong_ with the boy Petunia?" Vernon Dursley asked his wife after dinner, which was the third time that day. "He hasn't been cheeky with me once for the past two weeks!" he said sounding like he actually might miss Harry's usual behavior. 

Petunia put down her cup of tea, her lips pursed. "I know what you mean Vernon, he's acting very strange." She said darkly. "I mentioned something about how he'd been screaming about that wretched godfather of his in his sleep, and it was waking me up. He looked like he didn't know whether to smack me across the face or burst into tears!" she said shrilly. 

Then she added, looking a bit uncomfortable, "It's rather unnerving how he's acting Vernon, he doesn't really care about anything anymore, he doesn't even flinch when he's yelled at, and he never leaves that room except for meals…" she finished, looking at the kitchen door, as if she expected Harry to be standing there listening. 

Vernon patted Petunia's small bony hand with his shovel like one, "Maybe he's just finally learnt to treat us with some respect" he said very unconvincingly.  

* * * 

Meanwhile, Harry was lying on his side in bed, flipping through the photo album Hagrid had given him in first year, a few tears sliding down his face, his hand coming up to swipe them away as they did. Even though the album was supposed to be pictures of his mum and dad, there were quite a few of Sirius in there too. After all he was James best friend. 

He didn't know why he did this to himself, every time he looked at the album now he ended up crying and feeling far worse than he had before. Especially when he landed on the picture he was looking at now; a young, handsome Sirius Black was sleeping contently with a smile on his face, lying on his back, with Harry on his stomach. Sirius' arms were holding on to the baby Harry who looked about 10 months old. 

Harry shut the book with a snap, and buried his head in his pillow, "Why does everything happen to me?" he thought to himself, he felt so alone; he had absolutely no one to talk to. He'd never had any friends at Privet Drive, so who else was he supposed to talk to, Dudley? 

"What's the point of living anyway, would it really matter if I wasn't around?" Harry wondered to himself, sitting up as an idea formed in his mind. "Besides, Ron and Hermione are probably my only real friends, and Ron's always jealous of me for some stupid reason, he'd probably be glad if I was dead…" he added knowing it wasn't true, but not caring at the moment. 

"Hermione though…" he thought, knowing she would probably miss him, she'd made that clear in the birthday card she'd sent him, almost as if she knew he needed to hear it. But it just wasn't good enough seeing it written down on paper, what he really needed was someone to talk to. "Well there is no one to talk to here, and Hermione has Ron to be her best friend, she doesn't need you" his mind reasoned with him. "Yeah, she'd get over it…" He stood up, wiping his tears away, and making his decision, walked towards the bathroom. 

But the second he'd walked in to the hall, the phone rang, and Harry groaned as he heard Uncle Vernon's loud booming voice, "GET THE PHONE BOY!" 

Harry sighed and walked into Uncle Vernon's room. "Hullo" he said glumly as he picked up the phone. His heart skipped a beat; and he almost dropped the phone as he heard a familiar girl's voice speak. 

"Harry?"  

It was Hermione. 

"Hermione?!" he asked, in a state of shock. 

"Yeah, it's me Harry, how are you?" she asked cheerfully, but he knew her better, there was a definite hint of worry in her voice. 

"What did you phone me for?" Harry asked, ignoring her inquiry. 

"Thanks, Harry I love you too" she replied exasperatedly, laughing, and Harry found himself smiling for the first time in what seemed like forever. "I just thought you might need someone to talk to" she continued. 

Harry sighed and sank on to his Aunt and Uncle's bed, not believing how impeccable Hermione's timing was. "Yeah, that'd be good" 

 "Harry, I'm really worried about you being by yourself with no one around, are you all right?" A lump rose in Harry's throat as he thought about everything that had happened in the past weeks. 

"I'm fine Hermione" 

Why did he always tell people this when there was nothing further from the truth? 

"Harry…" Hermione took a deep breath, as if she was trying to keep herself from crying, she was always so emotional. "…of course you're not fine, that was a stupid question. But I really don't think you should be alone right now" she finished. 

"What do you think I'm going to do Hermione, kill myself?" he asked, with a false and very forced laugh. He heard a sharp intake of breath, Hermione started to speak very quickly, and it sounded like she was moving about, 

"That's it Harry I'm not leaving you there alone all summer, you can stay with me." She said dropping all pretenses that she wasn't positively terrified. "I'll be there as fast as I can" 

"What? No – Hermione I wasn't serious, I'm fine" he lied again. 

"Harry don't lie to me, I know you need a friend right now." She told him in a stubborn but soft voice. 

Harry sighed at her stubbornness but another small smile came across his face, "Honestly Hermione you don't have to do this" he said. 

"I know I don't but I want to, so go get ready"

Harry chuckled lightly, "Okay, I'll see you in a bit Mione…thanks" he said standing up. 

"See you" she said cheerfully. 

Harry hung up the phone amazed at what had just happened. Had he really been about to kill himself? He couldn't believe it...that would have been the most idiot thing he could ever do. Of course it would have mattered if he'd died, not only because of his friends but what about the prophecy and all that? And what had Professor Lupin told him that day in third year…his parents had sacrificed their lives just to keep him alive, and this was how he would've repaid them? Now he felt even worse…he would have let down his parents completely. 

"POTTER!" Harry jumped and was brought violently back to earth as his uncle's voice boomed up the stairs. "WHO WAS ON THE PHONE?" Uncle Vernon yelled. 

"PRANK CALL" 

* * *

Hey everyone…that's the first chapter of this story, tell me what you think! Was it good…bad? Oh and of course you all know that I obviously don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does, and that first bit was an excerpt from The Order of The Phoenix, please review!! 

* * *


	2. Changes

Meet You There

Chapter Two 

It only took Harry about 5 minutes to pack, as he hadn't really unpacked much at all. He heaved his heavy trunk down the stairs and placed it softly on the floor by the front door, tiptoeing back up the stairs to get Hedwig. Once he had everything downstairs, he opened the front door as quietly as possible, and carried his things outside, closing the door soundlessly behind him. Harry had decided not to ask the Dursley's if he could go to Hermione's; he just couldn't be bothered debating with his Aunt and Uncle about why he should be allowed to go or not. He'd left them a short note, and that was it, telling them where he had gone, but not much else. 

Harry had been sitting on the door step for about half an hour when a silver car pulled up. His eyes widened as he stood up and Hermione got out of the car, it had only been 2 weeks since school ended but she looked…different already…. She didn't look like she'd tried hard at all, but still managed to look nice. It was so effortless. Her hair of course was still slightly bushy, but there was something different about it, the brown curls shined and bounced as she ran towards him. She couldn't possibly of changed so much in two weeks…

Hermione grinned at Harry, unable to contain her excitement; she practically sprinted up the drive way towards him. "It's so good to see you!" she said happily throwing her arms around him, practically squeezing him to death. Much like she had the first time she'd seen him last summer. He grinned into her hair, extremely pleased to finally see a friendly face after being cooped up with the Dursleys.

"You too" he said meaning it more than she could ever know. She pulled away, her eyes shining and a brilliant smile on her face. 

"Was it hard convincing your Aunt and Uncle to let you come over?" Hermione asked. 

"Well I didn't really need to convince them" Harry said, trying and failing to look innocent. 

"Did you even tell them Harry?" she said exasperatedly. 

"Of course I did…I left them a note" Harry said snorting. Hermione looked like she was going to start badgering him so he continued, "Look Hermione if I asked them about it they probably would've said no and you don't want me here all alone, now do you?" he finished with a smirk, knowing he had won. 

Hermione shook her head, but she was smiling all the same, "Whatever it's not my fault if they get upset with you Harry, let's just go before they find that note" and with that she walked down the driveway with Hedwig's cage, towards the car, Harry lugging his trunk behind her. 

"Thank you for picking me up Mrs. Granger" Harry said, when he'd put his stuff into the car, and slid in next to Hermione. 

"No problem Harry" she said friendly, as she started the car. As Harry looked at Mrs. Granger in her mirror, he noticed she hardly looked like Hermione at all; the only thing they seemed to have in common was their slightly crazy hair, but even that was a completely different colour. Her eyes were bright blue, while Hermione's were a chocolaty brown. Her father must be the spitting image of her…that's really the only explanation. 

 "Have you been working out Harry?" Hermione said suddenly as they were pulling out of Privet Drive. 

"Wha…oh…yeah" he said awkwardly, caught off guard by the strange question, but he ended up laughing at himself anyway. "Aunt Petunia bought Dudley some weights last summer, so I…er, borrowed them…just something to do you know?" Harry finished, and Hermione nodded. 

"Not what I would choose to do on my holidays, but I guess guys are different" she said as they laughed together. 

"Yeah, you look different too, but I can't think of what it is…" Harry said, looking at her oddly, trying to figure it out. 

Hermione shrugged, "Well I haven't done anything, I always look like this…actually I kind of did something to my hair" she said, "Is that it?"

"I don't know…it must be" he said.

"Well muggles have really good hair products, since I don't really know many beauty type spells." 

"I should get some muggle stuff, tame my hair a bit" he said laughing. 

Hermione grinned at him, "No, it looks good like that, all messy" she said messing it up even more with her hand. 

"Hey, it doesn't need to be any messier" he shouted laughing and messing up her hair too. 

"Harry!!" she said loudly, hitting him on the arm jokingly, and tousling his hair again as he roared with laughter. 

Mrs. Granger smiled knowingly to herself as Harry and Hermione continued to laugh insanely, and mess up each other's hair as if it was the funniest thing in the world. By the time they'd reached Hermione's house, they both looked like they'd been in the middle of a hurricane, but they were both in a better mood for it. 

They all piled out of the car, and Harry fetched his trunk as Hermione followed her mum inside carrying Hedwig, who was looking around curiously at her new surroundings. Hermione's house looked a lot like the ones in Privet Drive but a bit bigger, and, at least to Harry, it looked a lot more welcoming. 

"I'll just show you the room you're staying in Harry, it's up here" Hermione said, gesturing up the stairs. He followed, but out of nowhere, Crookshanks came bounding up the stairs, Harry swayed but managed to keep his balance, Hermione however, wasn't so lucky, she screamed as she fell backwards, right into Harry, who had flung his trunk back down the stairs, in order to catch her. But she slammed into him so hard; he fell back with the breath knocked out of him, landing on the floor with a thud, narrowly missing his trunk, Hermione on top of him. 

"Oh my god Harry" Hermione said breathlessly as she got off of him, and kneeled on the ground. "I'm so sorry, are you all right?!" Harry groaned, his eyes closed in pain. "Say something!" Hermione said frantically, brushing the hair out of his eyes unnecessarily. 

Harry opened his eyes, to find her face inches from his, which for some reason didn't shock him in the least, in fact he felt comforted by looking into her eyes. "Ow" he said simply, laughing softly. 

Hermione smiled. "Are you okay?" Harry raised him self up on his elbows smiling back at her, "Yeah, I'm fine" he replied, for some reason, not able to look away. 

Some one coughed loudly behind them and an amused voice interrupted their little moment, "What's going on here?" It was Mrs. Granger. 

"Harry fell." Hermione said stupidly, shaking away the strange feeling she'd been getting looking at Harry.  

"He fell" Mrs. Granger repeated smirking. 

Harry started to laugh, sitting up and turning to look at her. "We were walking up the stairs and Crookshanks got in the way" he said chuckling. "Hermione fell down the stairs, and when I tried to catch her, she slammed into me so hard I fell backwards too" he explained. 

"And the reason you were staring at each other is..?" Mrs. Granger asked them both. 

"Mum!" Hermione shouted exasperatedly, "What's with all the questions, we weren't staring" she said, but a blush was creeping onto her cheeks, and Harry looked slightly awkward. 

Mrs. Granger now looked like she was trying not to laugh, "And you just like to blush at everyday comment then, is that it…?" she asked smirking. 

Harry snorted as Mrs. Grangers behavior, and Hermione blushed harder. "Honestly mum, you are so embarrassing..." she muttered, standing up and helping Harry off his feet as well. 

"You're lucky your fathers away on business Hermione, he would've embarrassed you much more than I have" Mrs. Granger said, and left the room laughing. 

Harry was sniggering beside Hermione, who was trying hard to look annoyed, but it wasn't really working. When Harry laughed, it tended to rub off. 

She started to laugh quietly, shaking her head at her embarrassing mother. "Let's just go" she said meekly.

Harry picked up his trunk still laughing, "Okay…try not to fall on me this time all right?" Hermione rolled her eyes but walked as quickly as she could up the stairs, just in case. 

* * *

The next morning, Harry and Hermione were planning to go to Diagon Alley on the Knight bus. 

"Tell me again why we're going to Diagon Alley so early in the holidays?" Harry asked as they shut the front door behind them, and walked down the path. 

"I thought it would be fun to go to muggle London, since you've never really been there before" She answered "Well you haven't had a proper look around at least" 

Harry looked at her quizzically "And we're going to Diagon Alley first because?" 

Hermione rolled her eyes at him "You need money Harry" she said simply, but she looked like she was hiding something. 

"What do I need more money for…hang on…we're going shopping aren't we??" Harry asked with a groan. 

Hermione smirked "Well done Mr. Potter" she said as she took her wand out of her pocket. "Honestly, Harry, you do need some new clothes, don't you think?" she asked. 

"Are you saying I have a bad fashion sense?!" Harry gasped, jokingly. 

She laughed lightly, and stuck her wand in the air "Well all the Dursley's ever gave you are Dudley's old clothes, and we all know you're  a hell of a lot better looking than Dudley and.." she cut her self off looking slightly awkward, while Harry laughed. 

"I'm good looking am I? Well Hermione I never knew you thought of me that way!"

"Oh shut up Harry, you know what I – AAAAH" Hermione screamed as the Knight Bus screeched to a halt in the exact place she had just been standing. Fortunately, Harry had swept her out of the way just in time. 

Hermione was breathing in short gasps, and not even aware Harry was holding her as the door of the bus popped open, "Welcome to the…" the pimply young wizard started, but was quickly interrupted by Harry. 

"We know, we know, we need to get to Diagon Alley" he said handing Stan the money. 

"Righto, Mr. Potter" Stand said and jumped aside, looking upon the scene curiously as Harry helped a dazed Hermione up the steps. They walked over to two chairs at the back of the bus ignoring Stan's excited whispers, "Ern, it's 'Arry Potter!!"

~Hope you liked that chapter….these first couples of chapters aren't that great but they get better believe me…especially later, these first ones aren't written to well and I know..I'm going to re write them when I have the chance please review!~


	3. I've had enough

Meet You There

Chapter Three - Enough

"I** hate** that thing" muttered Hermione as she got off the bus, looking a bit sick. Harry was laughing quietly behind her, but shut up the second Hermione looked at him. 

"Sorry" he said trying to keep a straight face. 

He wrenched the door of The Leaky Cauldron open for her, but before he could even close the door behind him, there was a bright flash of a camera, and someone yelled, "There he is!!" 

Before he knew what was happening, Harry was being pulled into the middle of the bar, people crowded all around him. Many looked just as confused as he was, as others looked excited.

"Erm..." Harry started but the wizard who had yelled before interrupted him. 

"The press has got word from an unknown source that the mass murderer Sirius Black was your godfather, could you tell us if this is indeed true?" 

Harry was so stunned he was rendered speechless, but there was no need to say anything, the reporters were already asking him more questions. 

"If it is true, are you sad about your godfather's death? How do you feel?" Well that was an understatement.

"How did you find out he was dead?" I was lucky enough to see the whole thing, thought Harry bitterly. 

"Did you love him?" Harry looked around him trying to ignore that question, of course he loved Sirius, he was the only father figure he'd ever had since his parents had died. 

Harry felt like a deer in headlights as the reporters continued to throw ridiculous questions at him, how had they possibly found this out? "Um…I don't…." he muttered, not sure of what to say, where was Hermione? 

"Harry!" 

'Thank god' he thought, as he saw Hermione pushing her way through the mass of reporters.

There was an angry uproar from the crowd as Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and tried to lead him away to the back door. The flashes from the cameras continued to go off but luckily Tom, the bartender, started to kick people out of his bar for disrupting the peace. 

"Are you all right Harry?" she asked, making sure the back door was closed as they walked into the space before the gateway to Diagon Alley. 

He looked down at her, "Yeah….yeah I'm fine" he said determined not to show his stupid emotions in front of her. He hated being upset about Sirius. 

"Harry…" she started in the same quiet voice, but he couldn't take her sympathy, 

"Come on Hermione, lets just go" he said stubbornly. 

She nodded with a sad smile on her face, and turned around to tap the bricks of the gate way, but as soon as the wall had moved, all they could see was more reporters. "What's wrong with them, why can't they just leave me alone!?!?" Harry yelled angrily, unfortunately his yell had attracted the attention of the crowd. 

"Shit" he muttered, and grabbed Hermione's hand, running full out down the crowded street. 

"In here!" Hermione yelled over the noise of the vicious reporters, tearing into Flourish and Blotts, and ducking behind a large pile of books. 

Soon enough a large group of reporters had invaded the store, but as they searched the back, Harry and Hermione snuck out the door, running as fast as they could to Gringotts. By the time they were inside the large marble building, Hermione was slightly out of breath and Harry looked positively livid. "What on earth was that all about? How'd they find out?" he asked Hermione, even though he knew she couldn't possibly know the answer. 

"I don't know…someone must of tipped them off but I have no idea wh…" she trailed off looking thoughtful. "Maybe…maybe it was Pettigrew" she said, looking at Harry apprehensively. 

"But why would he do something stupid like that…it's not like reporters running after me will help Voldemort kill me" Harry said dully, arriving in a line up for changing his money. Hermione shrugged, and they didn't say another thing until he was done. 

They walked casually towards the doors, Harry cooling down a bit from before. "At least they didn't find us in here" He said, reaching for the door handle. 

But as they walked outside, Harry had to eat his words as they saw a large crowd standing outside.  

Every feeling Harry had been bottling up for the past two weeks at the Dursley's seemed to burst out of him, he hadn't yelled or gotten angry at anyone in Privet Drive once, and he was about to make up for it. 

"**WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE**!?" he roared, as they pounced on him, asking him more questions. "My life is none of your business!" The crowd quit asking questions, but they looked insulted... "You're all so wrapped up in getting your damn story you don't care whose life you have to destroy along the way!" 

Hermione was trying to stand there as support for Harry, but she couldn't help backing away a bit, he was scary when he got this mad. Neville Longbottom had said when Bellatrix Lestrange had sent Sirius flying through the veil, he'd been more scared of Harry at that moment than he'd ever been of Professor Snape, and that was saying something. 

Harry was still yelling at the crowd angrily, which had grown larger, as people on the street had stopped to see what was going on.   "Didn't you ruin my life enough last year?! Or are you just going to keep doing this shit until I finally kill me?! Maybe I'll just do you all a big favor and take care of that myself! That seems to be what you all want!" the whole crowd went eerily silent. 

Harry shouted into the stunned silence one last time, "And you know what? I bet tomorrow morning, there'll be this huge report on how the 'famous Harry Potter' turned out to be a suicidal nutcase …well go ahead and humiliate me all you want because I just don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of me anymore!" Harry ended his speech with what could've almost been called a sob, and Hermione thought, but couldn't be sure that she saw a frustrated tear fall down his face as he pushed his way roughly through the crowd, which was shockingly devoid of flashes or murmering. 

The whole street was standing still, as everyone turned to look at  Hermione warily. "You know what I hope you're happy" she said fiercely, "You have no idea what Harry has had to deal with in his life, and it doesn't help that you constantly make him look like some attention seeking prat in your damn newspapers! Harry tries so hard to make everyone happy all the time but none of you even appreciate it." Some people looked guiltily at the ground. 

"No one in the world deserves all the horrible stuff that's happened to him." She looked around at the gaping reporters, "I just can't understand how any of you can be so cruel or thoughtless. What has Harry ever done to you? Only save your sorry asses from Voldemort…" Many people gasped as they heard his name, and she shook her head in disgust. 

"The whole lot of you are pathetic and I hope you're ashamed of yourselves because you certainly should be!" she finished angrily pushing through the silent crowd to find Harry. 

Surprisingly, he wasn't very far away, he was sitting on the steps of the Magical Menagerie which was just a bit beyond the end of the crowd, his head in his hands. Hermione walked over and kneeled in front of him putting her hands on his knees, she could feel him shaking under her touch. "Harry?" she asked softly. 

"What" he replied, head still down, and his voice sounding somewhat hoarse from all the shouting.  

"Well I'm not going to ask you if you're all right, since I'm pretty sure of what your answer would be" 

Harry snorted and lifted his head up to see Hermione smiling a few tears on her face. Harry smiled and wiped the tears away with his thumb. "I heard what you said" he said, his hand still on her cheek, although the tears had gone. 

"Well I meant it" she said in her soft voice. 

"Thanks" Harry replied quietly and finally took his hand off her cheek. 

"Do you want to just go back to my house and play Quidditch or something? Maybe that will make you feel better instead of going shopping" she asked him wincing at the thought of her flying. 

Harry laughed, "No, it's okay, let's go, I really do need some new clothes…and I don't think you on a broomstick is exactly a good idea"

 * * *

"Hermione! This shirt says fuck on it!" Hermione smiled as she looked through the window of the French Connection store with Harry, who was laughing his head off. 

"Harry, it says F-C-U-K, it stands for French Connection United Kingdom." She explained. 

"Whatever Hermione, this shirt says fuck on it and I'm buying it!" Hermione laughed to herself as she followed Harry into the store, who was already holding quite a few bags of clothes.  

5 minutes later, as Harry was trying on his "fuck" shirt, he came out of the dressing room but didn't see Hermione. He walked out into the main store and saw her looking dreamily at a pretty black satiny strapless dress on a hanger. 

"Hermione?" he said walking up behind her, she jumped. 

"Oh, Harry…that's cute on you!" she said grinning. 

"Thanks, you know, Ron would probably think this shirt is hilarious too, maybe I'll get him one to give him for Christmas" he said, still laughing at it. "…are you trying that dress on?" he asked curiously. 

Hermione looked sadly at it, "No, No, I've tried it on loads of times before…it's gorgeous…but it's too expensive" she finished with a sigh.

 Harry looked thoughtful for a moment, "Hey, I could…" he started but Hermione interrupted, 

"No way Harry, its really expensive, just go try on those other clothes, you still need some new shoes and a swimsuit…well you know, shorts." She added as he raised his eyebrows. 

"But Hermione you really want…" 

"Go" Hermione said crossing her arms, looking pointedly at the dressing rooms. Harry shrugged and walked away. 

A little while later, in yet another store, Harry was trying on a couple of pairs of swim shorts. Hermione was sipping her bottle of water she'd bought when he walked out of the stall wearing nothing but a pair of light blue shorts with a black Hawaiian pattern on them. Hermione choked on her water. How the hell had he gotten so hot?!

 Harry walked over to her looking concerned as she coughed and spluttered. "Are you all right Hermione!?" he asked, patting her on the back. A couple of girls nearby weren't paying Hermione the least bit of attention; they were both eyeing Harry with interest and giggling. 

When Hermione stopped coughing, she looked up at Harry who now looked like he was trying not to laugh, "What happened there 'Mione?" he said amusedly. 

"It's called choking Harry" she said acidly, but Harry just laughed. 

"Do you like the…um…the…" she stuttered as she looked at his toned stomach. 

"Shorts?" he supplied laughing again. 

Hermione blushed, "Right, shorts!" she said laughing nervously. 

"Well they certainly seem to" he said, glancing at the two girls who were looking at him, they blushed furiously as Harry grinned at them, and Hermione rolled her eyes. 

"Are you buying them then?" she asked impatiently. Harry nodded. 

As Harry walked back into the stall, the two giggling girls looked at Hermione and motioned for her to come over. Utterly confused, she walked over to them, and looked at them quizzically. "Is that guy your boyfriend?" one of the girls with short blonde hair asked Hermione eagerly. 

She was shocked by this question, but even more so by how she heard her self answering, "Yes, why?" Both girls grins disappeared in an instant.

"Oh…okay never mind" the other girl said, looking sulky. 

Hermione turned around and walked away, amazed at what had just happened. Why had she just said that? And how had she pulled it off so smoothly? She was distracted as Harry came out laden with clothes and bags, and soon forgot all about the incident. 

* * *

"I'll be right back Hermione, I gotta go to the bathroom" Harry said a while later, as they were eating lunch at an outdoor food court. 

"Okay" Hermione answered, taking a bite out of her sandwich. 

Harry had no real intention of going to the bathroom at all. 

He was actually going to go buy Hermione that dress, he figured he could just get it delivered to Hermione's house and give it to her for Christmas at Hogwarts. He jogged to the French Connection store and walked quickly up to the front desk.

 "Hi, do you do deliveries…I mean could you deliver a dress to my friend's house?" Harry asked speaking fast. 

"Um…" The man behind the counter knew stores rarely ever did that, but this boy hadjust bought an awful lot of clothes from them. 

"Alright, which dress is it?" Harry looked around, and spotting the dress, he pointed to it, 

"That one" he said. "I don't really know what size she is, but she's been in here lots of times trying it on" 

The man nodded, "The hot girl with the curly brown hair? Think she said her name was Hermoiney" he asked smirking. 

"Hermione" Harry corrected him, feeling a stab of annoyance. Who did this guy think he was calling her hot? 

"Right, what's her address?" the man asked. Harry told him Hermione's address, paid him, and left quickly, not wanting to spend any more time with the annoying guy behind the counter.

Harry sat back down at the table across from Hermione and she looked at him strangely. "Harry what took you so long?!" she asked. 

"Oh…umm…well the bathroom is pretty far away" he lied. 

"Oh, I thought maybe there was a long line or something." She said. 

Harry laughed at his own stupidity, "Yes, that would've made more sense" he said without really thinking. Hermione looked skeptical but couldn't think of what else he would be doing, so she shrugged as she took a sip of her coke. 

Eventually Harry and Hermione had finished shopping and both were exhausted, "My god Hermione I'll never understand why girls actually enjoyshopping" Harry said as the Knight Bus lurched forward, and all his shopping bags fell over.  But Hermione didn't respond, she had fallen backwards out of her chair. 

As Harry helped her back up she was muttering darkly to her self, "I **hate **this thing." 

* * * 

Hope you liked it, I forgot to say that the song at the beginning of the first chapter is not mine, it's by the band Simple Plan, and its called Meet You There, hope you liked this chapter, please review it seriously make me want to write more!! 


	4. Amazing

Meet You There

Chapter Four

After a couple of weeks, Harry and Hermione had done as much as they could, they went to the beach, the amusement park, the outdoor pool, the mall (although Harry had protested loudly in the streets to going there) the movies, roller blading at the park, they'd even went ice skating in an indoor skate rink that was open all year round. Hermione had the time of her life watching Harry experience all the things he should have got to do when he was a child but didn't. 

One night, before she was going to bed, Hermione was walking past Harry's room to the bathroom. She glanced through the crack in his door, and saw him sitting up in bed flipping through a photo album, looking rather miserable. Hermione couldn't help herself, her curiosity got the best of her, and she opened the door a little more, knocking on it gently. Harry's head shot up and he reflexively snapped the book shut, "Hey" he said trying to look happier then he was feeling. 

"Hey" she said, coming to sit beside him on the bed. 

"Something wrong?" he asked. 

Hermione shook her head, "No, not really, I was just wondering what you were looking at" she said, looking down at the closed photo album. 

"Oh…it's nothing, just some pictures." he said, waving his hand dismissively, trying to distract her from it. 

"Is that the photo album Hagrid gave you in first year?" she asked curiously, not letting it go. 

"How did you know about that?" he asked surprised. 

"Hagrid" she said simply. 

"Oh…well yeah it is…but…" he trailed off hopelessly, knowing she'd want to look at it. 

"Can I see it?" Harry sighed, sometimes he hated Hermione's curiosity. 

"It's okay if you don't want me too…I know it means a lot to you…" she started but Harry cut her off.

"No it's okay, I don't really let anyone look at it, but since its you…" he said handing it to her. 

"Thanks Harry,." She said smiling at him, and opening it up. 

While she was flipping through the first couple of pages Harry just ignored it, looking at the paintings on the wall instead, but soon enough… 

"Harry..." came Hermione's voice, and his heart plummeted as he saw her looking at the picture he'd been dreading to see again. 

"Is this…" she tried, but found she couldn't finish her sentence when she saw the look on Harry's face. 

Harry nodded, "Sirius and me yeah…" he answered looking away from it, "uh…you know what Hermione, why don't you just take that with you to your room?" he said, unable to look at the photo again while she was in the room. "I'm just…really tired" 

Hermione looked at him sadly, and knew she probably shouldn't try to comfort him, he wanted to be alone. "Okay, thanks for letting me look at it" she said, getting up. He simply nodded, feeling a lump in his throat. 

"Goodnight Harry" she said softly, unable to stop herself from giving him a quick hug. He couldn't help smile as he hugged her back, but was relieved when she pulled away. As she shut the door behind her, Harry slumped down onto the bed, ready for another night of restless sleep.

* * *    

The next morning, Harry and Hermione were eating toast while watching cartoons, "You know what Harry, looking at your photo album made me want to show you this ridiculous pictures of me when I was a baby. Apparently I'd dumped a box of Cheerios on my head, and my mum took a picture" she said and Harry laughed along with her. 

"I've never actually seen it though, I can't seem to find many of my baby photos its weird." She said looking thoughtful,  "But I remember that day so well for some reason, I had my little boy friend over too, and we just had the best time, I know my mum must've taken so many photos of us…" she trailed off, as Harry laughed at the thought of Hermione covered in Cheerios. 

"Anyways, I've asked my mum about it before, but she always just says, 'I'll find them for you later', or she'll just change the subject, I asked her again last night and she did the same thing!!" Hermione told him looking annoyed at her mother.

"Maybe she lost them" Harry said. 

"Wow Harry, that's a real positive thing to say" she replied, rolling her eyes at him, making him laugh. 

"It's okay Hermione, I'm sure I'll see them some other time" he said. The phone rang, but Hermione was busy thinking about where she could look for her pictures, and let her dad answer it... 

"Hermione!" Hermione's dad, who'd come home a week after Harry had been there, yelled from the kitchen, "Telephone!" 

Hermione climbed over Harry to pick up the portable phone, "Hello?" she said laughing as Harry tickled her,  when she passed back over him. 

"Oh hey Em!" she said happily as Harry roared with laughter beside her at the tv, making her laugh again. 

"Oh its Harry he was tickling me" she said. Harry heard a female voice babbling on the other line. 

"My friend from school, he's spending the summer with me" Hermione replied. 

"Em!" she squealed, Harry looked over in mid–laugh to see her glance at him and blush, which made him laugh even more. "We're** friends**" she said, emphazing the word heavily. 

"Honestly!" she exclaimed laughing. "No! Anyways, what did you phone me for in the first place?" Hermione said changing the subject, tapping her fingers on the couch as she listened. 

"But school's out already how are they….oh, that'll be awesome!" Hermione grinned. 

"What's happening?" Harry asked. Hermione held a finger up signaling for him to wait a minute, as she laughed again. "Okay, just let me ask Harry if he wants to go all right?" She put the phone down on the couch and turned to Harry who was looking at her expectantly. 

"My friend Emma is part of this recreation club thing and they're having a dance at her school on Friday, do you want to go?" Hermione's eyes were sparkling with excitement, and Harry knew she'd be disappointed if he said he didn't want to, so how could he say no? 

"Sure" he replied smiling, trying to look happy about it thought he wasn't. 

"Oh good!" she said happily and picked up the phone. 

"Em? Yeah he said he'd go!" she said, grinning at Harry. "Yeah, well I'll find something…it's not formal is it? No, okay we'll see you on Friday then! Yup, okay, bye" Hermione hung up the phone and looked at Harry who was thinking about the last dance type thing he'd went to. That certainly hadn't gone well…hopefully this would be different. 

 "Harry, you do want to go don't you?" she asked. 

"Yeah, sure why not?" he said, half truthfully. 

"Well, the Yule Ball didn't exactly work out for you did it?" Hermione said, and Harry laughed. 

"No…but my date was the extremely annoying Parvati and I liked Cho then. It wasn't too fun watching her with Cedric" he finished. 

"You don't still like her do you?" Hermione asked frowning. 

Harry snorted, "There's no way in hell Hermione, I saw what she was like last year" he said, making Hermione smile in relief. 

"That's good Harry, she isn't right for you" she advised. 

"Yeah I realized that" Harry said. 

Hermione smiled, "Oh well, hopefully you'll have better luck this year" 

* * *

That Friday, Hermione was so excited; she was practically jumping off the walls. It came as a relief when Hermione told Harry she had to get ready at 5 o' clock, and went skipping up the stairs. Harry had had a shower earlier that day and only took about ten minutes to get ready, pulling on the outfit Hermione had suggested. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt that said Quiksilver on it and a pair of black shorts, with a pair of white trainers that went great with everything. He was actually quite pleased with his outfit.  

The doorbell rang at 7:12, and Harry got it knowing it would probably be Emma. He opened the door to a cute, and rather short girl, with straight blonde hair, "Hi, I'm Emma Short" she said, holding out her hand, as she gave Harry a once over with her eyes, he must've passed the test because she was smiling. 

Harry shook her hand, "Harry Potter" he said, it felt so good and yet a bit strange to introduce himself to someone and not have them immediately look at his forehead. "Nice to meet you Emma" 

She smiled, "You too Harry" she said, as he welcomed her inside. 

* * *

Harry had been talking to Emma by the front door for about 5 minutes, when she looked over his shoulder and smiled "There she is" Harry turned around, and his breath caught in his throat. Hermione was wearing a short jean skirt with a small slit up the side, a black halter top and a stringy pink belt, which matched with her shoes, they had pink straps. Her hair was silky and straight like it had been at the Yule Ball, but she had it down this time, she even looked like she was shimmering in the light as she moved.

Harry was speechless, and it took him a while to realize he was staring at her with his mouth open. He closed it as she stopped in front of him smiling, and he was compelled to say something, "You look amazing" he said, looking her up and down. She grinned, "Not bad yourself Potter" 

They both jumped, as Emma snorted. "Emma! I didn't even see you there!" Hermione said laughing to cover up her embarrassment, and hugging her friend. 

"Yeah I noticed" she said still laughing as Hermione pulled away from the hug, "Though I can see why Harry would be a bit of a distraction for you" she added, smiling at Harry, who laughed awkwardly. 

"You do look good with that outfit on Harry" Hermione said, giving Harry a once over like Emma had done earlier, and smiling at him. 

"So do you" he replied, not able to help himself from looking her up and down once again. 

"Okay, okay, you both look awesome, but we really need to be leaving now" she said picking up her purse and heading to the door. 

"Oh one sec Em, I just have to tell my parents I'm leaving" Hermione walked through the kitchen door, Harry's eyes following her. 

Emma watched him and sighed, "You like her don't you?" she asked looking slightly disappointed. Harry tore his eyes away from the kitchen door to look at Emma, 

"No! She's my best friend" he said amazed she would even think that. 

Emma looked skeptical "Harry I saw how you were looking at her, friends don't do that, how can you be so oblivious to your own feelings?" she said folding her arms. 

Harry rolled his eyes. "Emma, I'm a guy, and Hermione looks hot, you expect me not to look at her because we're friends?" he said exasperatedly. Emma laughed "I mean you look hot too, do you want me to stop looking at you?"  He added chuckling, making her laugh even harder. 

"What's so funny?" Hermione had returned and was looking at Emma curiously.  

"We're just talking about how hot you are Hermione" Harry said laughing at Emma. Hermione looked strangely at both of them, shrugged and opened the door. 

"Uh…Em, how are we getting there?" Hermione asked when they were outside and she didn't see a car. 

"Erm…we're kind of…walking" Emma replied laughing nervously. 

Hermione froze, "Emma…!" she said slowly, "Have you seen these shoes?" Emma and Harry looked down at her very high heeled shoes. 

"Well how are you going to dance in them, if you can't even walk in them?" Emma said laughing.  

"That's different Emma" Hermione said rolling her eyes. 

"All right calm down" Harry said putting one hand on each of their shoulders. "I can carry you if you want" he said looking at Hermione, who looked like she was actually about to laugh 

"How long does it take to get there?" she asked Emma.

"Like 10 minutes" she said laughing, and Hermione smiled. 

"Could've told me that before Em, I think I'm able to walk for ten minutes" she said laughing, as they set off for the school. 

Exactly 9 minutes later, the three teenagers arrived outside Emma's high school. There were a few kids standing outside, who appeared to be waiting for people, and two adults at the entrance. They walked over to the adults and Emma showed them a card with her picture and the name of her school on it, "Good Evening Miss Short" one woman said, "You'll have to check your guests in over there" she said pointing to a desk inside with a sign over it saying 'Guests.' 

"Okay, thank you Mrs. Watson." She said sweetly.

After Harry and Hermione had been signed in and the girls had put their purses in the coat check, they walked into the gym. It was mainly dark, with black lights everywhere, and a place for the DJ to play the music, it was extremely different from what the Great Hall had looked like at the Yule Ball…but then again, this was a muggle dance. The minute they'd walked in, about 8 people walked over to them, apparently they were Emma's friends, as they all greeted her enthusiastically. When they were done they all looked at Harry and Hermione curiously, who had been hovering beside Emma looking awkward. 

"Who's this Em?" A pretty, dark haired girl asked as she looked at Harry smiling. 

"Oh this is my friend Hermione, the one I told you about, and Harry's one of her friends, he's spending the summer with her" said Emma. 

"Oh, nice to meet you Harry, my names Kathryn" she said sweetly. 

"Nice to meet you too." he said, giving her a false smile, he automatically didn't like her, she had some nerve totally ignoring Hermione like that. The other girls all introduced themselves to Harry, ignoring Hermione like Kathryn had, but it looked like Hermione didn't really care…she was surrounded by a group of boys. Harry was preoccupied watching Hermione laugh with a good looking blonde spiky haired boy when some one said his name. 

"Are you Harry?" He turned around to see an extremely pretty girl, with very straight reddish hair. 

"Uh yeah, Hi, what's your name?" he asked, trying to concentrate on her, and not the group beside him. 

"Lily" she replied. 

That made him pay attention, "Lily?" he asked a bit surprised, though why should he be? It's not like his mother was the only one with that name. 

"Yes…why have I met you before or something?" she said, looking at him curiously. 

"Oh no, I don't think so, I just…like that name" he said laughing at himself, and flashing her a grin. The girl blushed, but grinned back 

"Thanks, do you want to dance?" she asked boldly.  

"Sure" he said, following her to the dance floor. 

Hermione watched Harry walk away with the blonde girl, who was wearing an extremely short and tight red dress, "Slut" she muttered to her self. 

"What was that?" the blonde boy she'd been talking to, Tom, asked her. 

"Oh, nothing…want to dance?" she said in such a sickeningly sweet voice, even she was disgusted with herself. 

Tom grinned "All right" he said, looking happy she'd asked him.

They walked on to the dance floor, and Hermione 'accidently' bumped into Lily, "Oh! I'm so sorry!" she said sounding extremely false. 

Lily frowned at Hermione "That's okay" she said in the same fake voice, moving closer to Harry. Hermione rolled her eyes, Harry laughed.  

Harry and Hermione hardly saw each other all night, they were constantly dancing with different people, and Harry felt like he must've danced with every single girl in the room at least once, except Hermione. 

But 3 hours later, as the DJ announced the song he was about to play would be the last of the night, and Lily came running over to him expectantly, Harry shook his head, "Sorry Lily, I already know who I'm dancing with for this one" he said, walking away looking around the room. As the song started, Harry saw the girl he wanted to dance with, and walked over to her. 

"Would you do me the pleasure of dancing with me Miss Granger?" he asked jokingly.  

Hermione turned around and laughed at him, "I think I can allow that Mr. Potter" she said taking his hand and walking onto the dance floor with him. 

_It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart  
without saying a word you can light up the dark  
try as I may I can never explain  
what I hear when you don't say a thing _

Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione's small waist as she put clasped her hands behind his neck, both of them feeling content. __

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me  
there's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me  
the touch of your hand says you'll catch me wherever I fall  
you say it best, when you say nothing at all_

Hermione relaxed into Harry's arms sighing happily, resting her head on his shoulder, her body fitting perfectly into his. 

_all day long I can hear people talking out loud  
but when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd  
try as they may they can never defy  
what's been said between your heart and mine_

She found herself closing her eyes feeling more comfortable than she had all night

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me  
there's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me  
the touch of your hand says you'll catch me wherever I fall  
you say it best, when you say nothing at all_

Harry closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Hermione in his arms as he listened to the lyrics of the song. 

_The smile on your face  
The truth in your eyes  
The touch of your hand  
Lets me know that you need me  
  
_

Hermione didn't want the song to end, but she knew it was coming…_  
  
_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all  
You say it best…_

_When you say nothing at all…_

Harry groaned lightly as he heard the song end, and he opened his eyes to find Hermione still swaying slightly in his arms, her eyes closed, a smile on her face. 

Harry laughed quietly, "Hermione" he whispered. 

Her eyes opened slowly, as she shivered pleasantly at the feeling of Harry's breath on her neck. 

"Hermione!! Harry!!" Hermione moaned inwardly as Emma's loud voice boomed in their direction, she stepped gracefully out of Harry's arms and turned to see where her friend was. Harry spotted her by the door, already holding Hermione's purse along with her own.  

"There she is" he said pointing to Emma.  

 "You two looked comfortable" she said smirking, as the two reached her by the door. 

"I really was actually…" Harry said laughing.

"Yeah, Harry's shoulder's a really comfortable head rest" she said, as they walked out the door. 

* * *

"So did you have fun, you guys?" Emma asked as they were walking through a park, back to her house. (They were dropping her off first so she wouldn't have to walk home alone) 

They both nodded, "Yeah it was so much fun!!" Hermione said grinning. 

"I have to admit I wasn't sure if I would, but it was pretty fun" Harry said making the girls laugh, "Thanks for inviting us Emma" 

"No problem, you two seemed to be pretty popular among my friends" she said smirking. 

"Yeah, I don't…" Hermione started but she was cut off by her own scream of pain as she tripped on a tree root sticking out of the ground. 

"Hermione!" Harry and Emma shouted at the same time, kneeling down next to her. 

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, helping her to sit up. She shook her head, eyes closed in pain. 

"I think I twisted my ankle" she said quietly. "And my wrist really hurts, I must've landed on it funny." 

Harry sat cross legged on the ground and lifted her leg onto his lap, he brushed his hand gently over her ankle and Hermione winced. 

"That hurt?" he asked shocked at how the gentlest touch could've hurt her ankle. 

She nodded biting her lip, trying not to let the tears fall. Harry looked at her, "Hermione its okay to cry" he said softly. She opened her eyes as a few tears trickled down her face, "It really hurts" she whispered, her voice cracking. 

"You'll be all right Hermione, this sort of stuff heals pretty quickly" Emma said next to her, as Harry wiped the tears off her face. 

"How am I gonna get home?" she asked, but Harry waved his hand dismissively. 

"I'll carry you" he said, picking her up easily. Emma stood up with them, as they walked through the gate of the park. 

"My house is just across the street Harry, you don't have to walk me to it" Emma said, pointing to a light green house opposite them. 

"Okay, nice meeting you Emma, thanks again" Harry said, smiling. 

"You too Harry, no problem" she said, 

"Bye Hermione, I'll phone you later to see how you're doing all right?" 

Hermione nodded, "Okay, talk to you later, thanks" Emma smiled, and set off across the street, Harry and Hermione waving to her as she shut her door behind her.  

* * * 

Harry was walking up the front path of Hermione's house when he noticed she was being extremely quiet, especially since Hermione was usually talking non stop. He looked down and smiled as he saw her asleep in his arms, her head resting on his chest, body turned into his. She had a small smile on her face, and her eyes were fluttering slightly, as if she was having a dream, she looked extremely peaceful like this.

Harry stopped at the front door, awkwardly pressing the door bell with his elbow, careful not to hit Hermione's head on the wall. The door opened and Mr. Granger appeared, his eyes widening as he saw Hermione. "What happened?" he asked worriedly. 

"It's all right, she's just sleeping, but she broke her ankle on the way home, and I think she might've sprained her wrist too, so I had to carry her." Harry said, in a quiet voice so she wouldn't wake up. 

Mr. Granger's face relaxed a considerable amount, "Oh, well that can be fixed easily enough." He said moving aside so Harry could carry her in. 

"If you could just carry her upstairs Harry, and I'll get some bandages" Harry nodded. "Oh by the way, a package arrived for you today from the French Connection store in London" he added, "I put it up in your room" 

Harry grinned, "Oh thanks Mr. Granger" he said happily, walking up the stairs with Hermione, as her dad smiled and walked back into the living room. 

He put her gently down on her bed, resting her head on her pillow, and sat down by her feet carefully slipping off her shoes. Evidently, he hadn't been careful enough. Hermione's eyelids fluttered open and she jumped slightly as she saw Harry sitting next to her. "Harry? What're you doing in here?" she asked sleepily. 

"I had to carry you home when you broke your ankle, don't you remember?" Hermione expression cleared and she nodded. "Your dad told me to put you up here; he's just getting some bandages." Harry finished, just as Hermione's dad walked in. 

"Ah, you're awake sweetheart" he said as Hermione nodded, yawning. 

He walked over to the bed, and Harry got up so he could sit down. "Now this may hurt a bit, because I have to wrap it pretty tight, all right? I'll try to be gentle" Hermione looked a little reluctant, but nodded. She winced as her father began to wrap up her ankle, and Harry reached down to hold her hand in his as if it was an involuntary action. Hermione smiled at him, but didn't ask why he had done it, she seemed to already understand; as she winced again, she squeezed Harry's hand tightly and bit her lip. 

"All done" Mr. Granger announced about 2 minutes later. 

"Thanks Dad" Hermione said as he got up off the bed. 

"You're welcome darling" he replied, starting to walk towards the door but turned around, as he reached it. 

"Coming Harry?" he said, raising his eyebrows. 

Harry flushed, "Oh…right, sorry" he said as he let go of Hermione's hand. "Good night Hermione" he said 

"Good night Harry" she replied, sitting up in her bed, as he turned to leave. 

As Mr. Granger shut Hermione's door behind himself and Harry, he spoke up, "Thank you for being so helpful to Hermione tonight Harry." He said. 

"Well, what else would I have done, that's what friends are for right?" 

A skeptical look flashed across Mr. Granger's face, "Friends…right" he said. "Good night Harry"

* * *

Hope you liked this chapter, and I hope you review as much as you did last time!! Oh yeah and if you want to see the pic of baby Harry and Sirius, the one that always make Harry cry, go to this website   


	5. Photos

Meet You There

Chapter 5 – Awkward Silence

Hermione woke up the next day still in her skirt and halter top feeling very uncomfortable and very cold as she looked out the window to see rain thundering down to the ground. She hadn't told Harry or her parents the night before but she couldn't exactly get changed by herself. Unfortunately when she looked at the clock on her bedside table, and saw that it was nearly 11, she flung herself out of bed, landing hard on her feet. 

* * *

Harry was awoken that morning by a rather loud but slightly muffled scream of pain and a thud. He shot up in bed, recognizing the scream as Hermione's, and bolted out the door, forgetting that he was hardly wearing anything. He opened Hermione's door to find her still in her dance clothes, sitting on the floor holding her ankle, muttering "Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow" repeatedly under her breath. 

Harry walked over and knelt down beside her, "What happened Hermione?" he asked, concerned. 

"It's nearly 11 and I didn't want you to wake up before I did so I jumped out of bed to get ready…" she took in a deep breath, "…of course being the idiot I am , I forgot about my ankle." Hermione looked extremely annoyed with herself as she let go of her ankle and rubbed her wrist. 

Harry laughed, "You're not an idiot Hermione" he said picking her up and putting her back on the bed, "But do you think we should go to St. Mungo's and see if you've broke your ankle, or your wrist for sure?" he asked. 

Hermione nodded, "I guess so…it'll take a lot of convincing though" she said. 

"How come?" Harry asked. 

"My dad thinks we should heal the 'normal' way" she said rolling her eyes. 

"But St. Mungo's could fix you up in less than an hour; the muggle way could take a month, or maybe even longer!" he said incredulously. 

Hermione sighed, "I know, we'll try to convince him though, he'll probably say yes eventually." She said, playing with the strings on her belt. 

"How come you're still in your clothes?" Harry asked suddenly, and Hermione surprisingly looked embarrassed. 

"What?" he asked confused. 

"It's hard to get dressed by myself because of this" she said gesturing to her wrist. 

"Oh…" Harry said not catching on. 

"Well your mum…or your dad…could…" he started, but Hermione interrupted. 

"Mum left for work at nine…and dad usually gets really embarrassed about this type of thing" she said blushing. 

"Erm…" Harry seemed to have figured it out "I guess…I could, you know, help you if you need me to" he said awkwardly. 

Hermione looked up at him, "Well you have seen be in a bikini, that's kind of the same thing…and I think I'll manage to put my own underwear on" she said laughing but going flaming red. 

"Right...bikini…yeah, okay" Harry replied, stumbling on his words, knowing it wouldn't be the same.

Hermione stood up carefully and looked at Harry expectantly, who awkwardly walked closer to her, "Wait, can you lock the door, my dad doesn't work on weekends" she said quickly. Harry, understanding perfectly, went to quickly close the door and lock it. As he came back he started with her pink belt, throwing it on the bed when it came loose.   

As he undid the only button on her skirt, Hermione let out a quickly stifled giggle. "What the hell is funny about this?" Harry said but he had a grin on his face. 

Hermione burst out laughing and Harry joined her, both of them red in the face about the predicament they were in. "Wow this isn't weird" she said between laughs. 

"Oh not at all" he replied sarcastically.  

When their laughs had subsided Harry resumed his position, "All right, let's try again" he said trying to keep his face his normal colour as he pulled down the zipper. Hermione blushed as he slide the skirt down her legs, but found that she had kind of enjoyed the feeling of his roughened from Quidditch hands running down her thighs. 

Harry just couldn't help himself from touching her legs, he knew he shouldn't since she was his best friend but he was a guy for god's sake and it didn't look like Hermione had minded at all. 

"Put your arms up over your head" Harry told her, clearing his throat as it squeaked slightly making him feel even more awkward. Hermione once again shivered as Harry's hands skimmed over the smooth skin of her stomach. He threw her shirt on the bed along with her other clothes and glanced at her, trying not to look for too long. She was absolutely gorgeous…he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it last year. 

Hermione looked at the floor, embarrassed; as she realized both of them were half naked in her bedroom…all she was wearing now was her pink underwear and bra, and Harry only had on a pair of black boxers he'd been sleeping in. "Um…" Harry tried to speak but found he couldn't. 

Hermione looked back up at him, "I still have to change my…" she said not finishing her sentence, and limped awkwardly over to a set of drawers. 

"Right…" Harry said. 

"Could you just turn around for a sec?" she asked him, looking over her shoulder. 

Harry nodded and turned his back to her, trying to figure out why he was feeling like this, it wasn't that he was embarrassed…that was normal, he should be embarrassed. But he felt something else…almost like he just wanted to throw Hermione on the bed and kiss the living daylights out of her. What the hell?! She was his best friend…why would he even think that?

"Harry?" He jumped as he heard Hermione say his name; he was a bit more reluctant to look at her now, afraid at what he might do. But he had to help her, so he turned around, trying to concentrate on her face. "You don't mind if we stay in today do you? Well besides perhaps going to Saint Mungos" she asked. 

"No, of course not, it's really rainy today anyway" he said, finding it extremely hard to only look at her face. 

"I'm just going to wear this then" she said gesturing to the comfy looking fitted white sweat suit. 

"Okay sure" Harry said, walking over to her, "You might want to sit on the bed, so I can put these on without hurting your ankle" he added as she handed him her sweatpants. 

Hermione plopped down on the bed and Harry knelt in front of her, gently guiding her feet into each pant leg.

"All right, stand up" he said, as he pulled the pants up her legs. His hands had touched her skin again and as he reached behind her to get the white zip up, Hermione scolded her self for thinking Harry was touching her on purpose. Why the hell did she enjoy that so much, it's Harry!! One of her best friends! _What's wrong with me?_  She thought. 

 "Done" he said smiling at her as he finished helping her put her arms through the sleeves of her white zip up. 

"Thanks Harry" she said. 

"No problem" 

Hermione smiled, "I guess you don't need help getting changed, right?" 

Harry laughed, "If you want to…" he said, raising his eye brows jokingly, making her laugh, but she surprised him 

"Okay let's go" she said and looped her arms through his, walking through the door together.  

As they walked into the hall, they heard someone walking up the stairs; Harry swept Hermione from her feet and tore into his room, which was luckily right next to hers. As he put her down on the carpet she was looking at him strangely, "What did you that for?" she asked curiously. 

" I didn't want your dad to say anything, like 'why was Harry half naked in your room with you Hermione?'" he said, imitating Mr. Granger. 

Hermione laughed as Harry pulled a pair of pants from the closet, "I don't think he'd…" she said but Harry cut her off with a disbelieving snort 

"Oh yes he would, I think he thinks I'm your boyfriend" Hermione stared at him, as he pulled on his pants. 

"Why would he think that?" she asked. 

"I don't know but last night he thanked me for being so helpful and I said, well yeah what are friends for or something…" he said, reaching for a light blue sweatshirt, "…and he was like, 'friends…right' like he didn't believe me" he finished, pulling the sweatshirt over his head.  

"Really? He said that….that's kinda rude" she said, frowning. 

Harry shrugged, "No it's okay, I just don't know why he'd think that" he said, looking slightly puzzled. 

Hermione looked like she'd figured it out, "Maybe it was because you held my hand before, I mean I know that's a stupid reason but I guess that could've been why…" she trailed off, frowning again. 

"I was holding your hand because you were in pain, what am I not allowed to comfort my best friend?" Harry asked. 

"Of course you are, he shouldn't jump to conclusions like that" she said. 

"Why don't you just tell him I'm not?"

"Sure, I will after breakfast" she said 

"Or maybe lunch" Harry added laughing as he looked at his watch, and opened the door for Hermione. 

As Harry was walking down the stairs, with Hermione on his back (he'd insisted he give her a piggy back ride) Mr. Granger appeared in front of the stairs. 

"Hermione? Mum asked me to give you these" he said holding up what looked like a photo album. 

"Are those my baby pictures?!" she asked excitedly as Harry put her down gently. 

"Uh yes I think so…most of them" he said, looking nervous about something, but only Harry noticed, Hermione was already taking the album and going to sit on the couch. Harry followed, looking oddly at Mr. Granger before sitting down besides Hermione on the couch. 

She flipped the book open, and started to look at her baby pictures….Harry couldn't help but notice that there were a lot with her mum in them, but not a single one with her dad… "Oh here's the Cheerios thing I was telling you about!" Hermione said abruptly, pointing to a photo of Hermione next to a Cheerio box with the little o's all around her. 

"But…there's no pictures of the little boy I had over, he was my best friend too, that's so weird there aren't any pictures of him." she said looking disappointed. 

"Maybe he just hated having his picture taken?" Harry suggested meekly. 

Hermione shook her head, "I don't think so" she said sadly, "We were only friends for about a year too, I don't remember what happened, he moved away like a day after Halloween" 

Harry looked at her curiously, "Halloween?" he asked. 

"Yeah…" she said looking gloomy as she looked through a few more pictures. 

"What was this boy's name?" he asked persistently. 

Hermione looked thoughtful, "I can't even remember…I can't believe it, he was my best friend since I was born practically, I think our parents were best friends or something…" she said looking annoyed with herself. 

"I'll ask my dad, maybe he remembers, DAD!!??" she shouted, and Mr. Granger appeared as quick as a flash, as though he'd been waiting for it. 

"Yes, sweetheart?" he said. 

"Remember the little boy I always had over when I was really little?" she asked. 

"Erm…oh yes…right…what about him?" he replied, looking like he didn't have the foggiest idea who this boy was. 

"What was his name?" she asked, and Mr. Granger suddenly looked rather uncomfortable. 

"Um…I'm not sure honey, sorry." He said looking around the room, as if he wanted to escape. 

"But weren't you best friends with his mum and dad?" she asked surprised. 

"Well, yes…yes but I'm very sorry dear I can't remember" he said turning to leave. 

"Wait!" 

Mr. Granger stiffened and was starting to look quite annoyed. "What?" he said impatiently. 

"How come there aren't any pictures of you in here?" Hermione asked, looking at the book, then back up at her father. 

His lip twitched and he looked like he'd been dreading this question, "I'm not sure, maybe I just took all of the pictures…silly of me really." He answered laughing nervously, but Hermione looked skeptical, 

"But…" she started stubbornly 

"HERMIONE!" he yelled irritably, and she jumped, looking a bit scared. "I'M VERY BUSY ALL RIGHT, STOP ASKING ME ALL THESE RIDICULOUS QUESTIONS!" 

Harry looked at him angrily, and was about to say something when Hermione put her hand over his mouth as her dad stormed out of the room. "Don't" she said shakily. He looked at her, her eyes glistening and nodded as she took her hand away. 

"I'm sorry Hermione, are you all right?" he asked, bringing her into his arms for a hug. 

She nodded as she pulled away, but Harry didn't notice, he was staring at a photo of her mum, a very young Hermione, about two months old, and another pretty woman, with his mouth half open. "Hermione…there's something funny going on here" he said not looking away from the photo.

"What do you mean?" she asked following his gaze. 

"First of all…it looks like your mum has a wand in her shirt pocket…" he said and Hermione gasped. 

"What the…" 

"And look at this" he said pointing to a small group of laughing people in the far right end of the photo. 

Hermione's jaw dropped, "Harry…that's…it's…is it?" she gasped out, unable to form a proper sentence.   

Harry nodded, "I don't understand this…you're mum mustn't be a muggle Hermione…she's a witch" 

* * *

Sorry for the tiny cliffhanger… you probably don't know who the people are but if you do you're really smart!! You'll find out next chapter if you don't…okay so hope you liked it , please review


	6. Explanations

Meet You There

Chapter 6 

Hermione and Harry were staring at the photo, their eyes glued to the page. "I can't believe this Harry" she said suddenly. "She must be a witch, how could she have known your parents? And Sirius too?" 

Harry shook his head, "I don't know, I'm more surprised that I didn't even remember we've been best friends since we were born" he said, looking down at his mother holding a small version of himself in her arms as she laughed and talked with James and Sirius. 

"Well we only knew each other for a year, you left when you were one" she said looking thoughtful.  

"There has to be more photos that belong in this album, I mean honestly, your mum must've taken _some_ of me and you" he said, flipping through the album, making sure they hadn't missed any. "I wonder why she wouldn't want you to know about all this stuff." He added, but Hermione wasn't even paying attention. 

"None of this makes any sense...my mum better have some bloody good excuses when she gets home." She started angrily. 

"Clearly she's a witch, which she's been hiding from me for nearly 16 years now, I mean how could she keep something like that from her only daughter?" 

Harry looked at her helplessly, not having the foggiest idea of what to say. He doubted it would make any difference anyway. "She's kept so much from me! I mean did it just slip her mind that she used to know my best friends parents?" 

Hermione continued on, leaving Harry no room to interrupt even if he'd wanted to.  

"…and why the bloody hell are there absolutely no photos of my dad in here, it's like he didn't even exist…" she appeared to be finished ranting, but a new emotion was flickering in her eyes. 

Hermione looked at him as if struggling to accept something, "What, why are you looking at me like that?" Harry said, almost worried. 

"Harry…I don't think the man that's been living with me for all these years is my real father" she told him quietly. 

Harry stared at her, completely nonplussed. "Why on earth would you think that?!" he asked in shock, "Of course he is, I mean…how could he not be? Your mum wouldn't keep something that big from you Hermione I'm sure of it" Harry was surprised at how confident he'd sounded, especially since he'd thought her query actually made a bit of sense. 

"Harry…there isn't a single photo of him in here from when I was younger, don't you think that means something?" she asked, heavily. 

"There's got to be a better explanation Mione…maybe someone just misplaced them" he offered, not wanting her to actually believe that she'd never even known her own father. 

"But that's not the only thing Harry…every time I talk about my childhood, or anything even closely related to it he always gets so awkard…that's not normal!" she said, continuing to prove her theory right. "…and while I've tried not to notice it, I have to face the truth…he's not like me at all! I'd even go as far to say as he's the complete opposite of my personality" she said clearly getting quite panicky. 

"Listen Hermione, try to calm down…we can ask your mum all about it when she gets home" Harry said, trying to be comforting, "I'm sure she'll be able to explain everything."  

The problem was, Hermione's mum didn't exactly come home that night. Around half past seven Mr. Granger walked into the living room, where Harry and Hermione were watching a movie on the television. 

"Mum and I are going out tonight Hermione, here's some money to order a pizza" he said placing a couple of 5 pound notes on the coffee table. 

Hermione looked up at the man she had thought was her father, surprised. "What? But mum hasn't even come home yet!!" She said annoyed that once again she was being avoided. 

"We're meeting at the restaurant" he said simply ignoring the look on her face as he put on his jacket. 

"Well when are you going to be home?" she asked, looking like she was about to start yelling. 

"I'm not sure Hermione, probably pretty late" he said calmly. "Why are you getting so upset about this?" he added, noting her angry tone. 

"Because I want to ask mum about these photos!" she yelled, jumping up off the couch and wincing as her injured foot hit the floor. 

"I already told you sweetheart, I must've taken all of them." he said, impatiently. 

"Well how do you explain never telling me you knew Harry's parents, or the fact that mum is in fact a witch!!" she shouted, choosing not to mention her feelings about him not being her real dad. 

"What are you on about Hermione?" he asked, looking slightly nervous now. "You're mum isn't magical, you know that" 

Hermione picked up the photo album and flipped through it roughly. " Look at this picture dad, first off, clearly there is a wand in mum's pocket" she started, as her father cleared his throat anxiously. 

"…and see these people here?" she said pointing to the Potters, and Sirius. "Those are Harry's parents, that's Harry, and this is his godfather Sirius. They are _all _witches and wizards, mum couldn't possibly of been such good friends with them if she was a muggle!" she said, sounding perfectly confident. 

Mr. Granger stood there helplessly, a blank look on his face as Harry and Hermione stared at him, willing him to give them an answer.. Suddenly, he turned around and walked towards the door, "DAD!?!' Hermione yelled outraged. 

"I don't have time for this Hermione, I'm late" he said shortly, slamming the door behind him. 

Hermione sat back down on the couch fuming, "They're definitely hiding more than one thing from me Harry…and I must know what it is" she said her eyes flashing angrily as she watched the television. 

"Well they can't avoid us forever, we'll just ask them when they get back" he said trying to be helpful. 

Hermione sighed and nodded, "Let's just order the pizza" she said picking up the phone. 

"Hey how about we go pick it up this time?" Harry suggested before she started to dial. 

"What would you want to do that for?" she asked, looking at him curiously. 

"Well we could go get a movie to watch while we're out, since this one is over" he said gesturing to the screen, which now had tiny white credits scrolling up it. "And we could get loads of muggle candy, it'll help get your mind off of this, I promise" he said standing up and offering her his hand. Hermione looked up at him and smiled, it was cute really how he always wanted to make her happy.

"All right, you've convinced me" she said happily taking his hand, as he pulled her up off the couch and headed towards the door, Hermione limping along beside him. 

"Wait a sec" Harry said as she shut the door behind them. He stooped down into a squat, as Hermione looked at him oddly. "Get on" he said laughing as he looked at her face over his shoulder. 

"That's okay Harry, I can walk" she said, but he simply looked at her stubbornly. 

"Harry! Really, I can…" she started. 

"Would you please just get on so I can stand up" Harry said interrupting her, with a classic puppy face that he knew would sway her decision. "Please?" he added, and Hermione melted as he flashed her the famous Potter grin he'd inherited from his father.  

She sighed dramatically; trying not to smile as she climbed on to his back. Harry gave a triumphant 'hah!" as he stood up and started to walk down the path. 

Hermione started to laugh. "What?" Harry asked, crossing the road. 

"Nothing Harry, you're just so cute" she said, and he grinned over his shoulder. "Well thank you, but I already knew that" he said, laughing as she slapped him upside the head. They were just walking into the tiny little town when they heard some one call their names in a very familiar Irish accent. 

"Harry!! Hermione!" Seamus Finnegan came running up to them, holding the hand of a rather gorgeous looking girl. 

"Hey Seamus" they said together, Harry rather surprised at seeing his housemate in Hermione's neighborhood. 

"I forgot we lived so close, we should get together sometime" said Hermione grinning. 

"Yeah we should, shame this summer's nearly over." He said, looking gloomy about it and they nodded.

"I totally understand" Hermione said laughing.

"Well who's this then Seamus?" Harry asked, smiling at the girl next to him. 

Seamus grinned at her, forgetting about school altogether. "This is Kate" he said, clearly infatuated with her. "And these are my friends Hermione Granger, and well everyone knows Harry Potter of course" he added chuckling, as Harry felt the familiar stab of annoyance when the pretty blonde's eyes did the expected flick towards his forehead. 

"Nice to meet you two, I'm coming to Hogwarts next year" she said in a, surprisingly, southern accent. as she shook their hands excitedly. "I've just transferred from my old school in the states" she finished and Harry and Hermione's surprised expressions at her accent, cleared. 

"Oh well that'll be great to have a new person around, I hope you're in Gryffindor, like the rest of us" Hermione said friendly. 

"Yeah I hope so too" Kate said smiling at Seamus. 

He grinned, but then looked curiously at Harry, "Wait a minute, Harry, what're you doing here, you live in Surrey don't you?" he asked, looking at him questioningly. 

"I'm staying at Hermione's for the summer" Harry replied looking a bit awkward, remembering why she had invited him. 

"Well where's the other member of the trio then?" Seamus said laughing, Kate looked curiously at him and Hermione rolled her eyes at being called 'the trio' but Harry just laughed. 

"Ron's on vacation in Hawaii, a treat from Fred and George" he said, as he re-adjusted Hermione on his back. 

"You're all alone then are you?" Kate spoke up, raising her eyebrows suggestively. 

Hermione, Harry and Seamus all laughed at the innuendo, "We're actually just really good friends." Hermione told her still laughing, and Harry nodded. 

"Or that's what they tell everyone anyway" Seamus muttered in Kate's ear and she giggled. 

 "I'd slap you if I didn't think I'd fall off!" Hermione said jokingly as Harry laughed again. 

"I'm just joking…but why are you up there anyways?" he asked chuckling. 

"She sprained her ankle" Harry replied for her. 

"And my wrist" Hermione added. 

Kate looked like she was trying not to laugh but Seamus openly roared with laughter, and Harry joined him. "How did you manage that?" he choked out. 

"She tripped over a tree root" Harry said in between laughs, which made Seamus laugh harder, holding his sides, Kate couldn't hold it in any longer, and even Hermione started to laugh as she tried to defend herself. "I _was _wearing high heels!"  

Harry stopped laughing and spoke up loudly, "All right enough tormenting Hermione, we have to go get our pizza"  

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that" Hermione said, looking down at Seamus and Kate. 

"Okay, we'll see you later then, are you going to Diagon Alley next week?" Seamus asked, taking Kate's hand in his, ready to leave. 

"Yeah we are, you?" Hermione responded. 

"I think I am, yeah." Seamus said. 

"You'll be going too then, will you Kate?" Hermione asked. 

"Yes, I have to get new robes and everything" she said, looking almost excited about it. 

"Well maybe we'll see you next week then?"  

"Yeah I hope so, see you later Harry, Hermione" Seamus said, as he left, with Kate giving a quick wave to both of them. 

"Bye" Harry and Hermione said in unison, as Harry walked across the street to the pizza place.

"I have no idea why I – AAAAAHHH!" Hermione screamed and threw herself onto Harry as he put his arm around her laughing his head off. 

"It's just a movie Hermione" he said chuckling. "It's not real or anything!" 

"Is it gone yet?" she asked whispering. 

"Yes it's gone but why are you whispering?" Harry responded amusedly. 

Hermione let out a deep breath, sat up straight, and Harry tied to take his arm away, but she grabbed it, "Don't, that...thing...might come back" she said, looking disgustedly at the television, making Harry laugh again. He wasn't protesting however, he rather liked 'protecting' Hermione like this. 

"Like I was saying before I was scared out of my wits, I don't know why I let you get this movie" she said, not even looking at the screen anymore, but choosing to look at him instead. 

"Because you just love being protected" Harry said smirking, and bringing her closer to him with his arm, enjoying himself thorougly. Hermione rolled her eyes at him…but didn't try to get away. 

Half an hour later, the movie ended, and Harry looked down to see Hermione asleep against his chest. He chuckled at the fact that she could be so terrified of a scary movie, but still manages to sleep through one. Harry turned off the TV, and carefully gathered her in his arms, walking slowly up the stairs, and into her bedroom. As he put her down on the bed, he heard the front door open from downstairs. He quickly crept out of her room and into his own, trying to ignore the loud chatter from downstairs. 

It sounded like Hermione's parents were rowing, and he didn't want to get in the way, but when he heard Hermione's name, he couldn't help himself. He walked quietly out of his room and sat down on the top stair, easily listening to their conversation as they were talking extremely loud.

"I just don't think it would be good if she found out Annie, all right?" came Mr. Granger's voice from the family room. 

"But she has a right to know Michael, I've always wanted to tell her!" Mrs. Granger said shrilly. "And it sounds like she's figuring it out anyway, by what you told me today." She added. 

Harry jumped as someone touched his shoulder, "Harry! What are you doing?" Hermione whispered fiercely. 

"They're talking about you Hermione, I think you might be able to find out about your dad and all that stuff without even asking." He responded in a whisper, looking pointedly at the spot next to him. 

Hermione frowned at him but sat down anyway. "I don't like eavesdropping on people Harry." She whispered, "What if we get caught?" 

Harry rolled his eyes, "Hermione you deserve to know about all this, let's just listen all right?" he said, turning away from her. She fell silent, and Harry smiled to himself. 

"She'll forget about it eventually!" Mr. Granger was saying hopefully. 

"Michael, you really don't know her at all do you? Hermione is very stubborn, and when she wants something she'll get it." 

Harry snorted, "That's the truth" he whispered, and Hermione slapped him on the arm, although she knew it was true. 

"Okay Annie, suppose we do tell her, how do you think she'll react?!" he said, sounding irritable. 

"I…well…I think she'd be all right" she said, sounding like she didn't have much faith in what she was saying. 

"Oh, yeah it'd go great, 'Hey Hermione, I'm actually not really your father, but don't worry your real dad is a real nice guy. Sure he's an escaped convict from Azkaban, and he did happen to murder 13 people but hey, that's life for you!' 

"WHAT?!!" Harry said loudly in disbelief. 

"Oh my god" Hermione said softly, looking at Harry's stunned face fearfully before fainting. Harry caught her reflexively, as his brain attempted to process what had just happened. He was so dazed that he'd forgotten how loud he yelled and didn't get up fast enough.

"Harry? Hermione?!" Mr. And Mrs. Granger had appeared at the bottom of the stairs, obviously having heard him yell. 

"Erm…" Harry didn't have the slightest idea of what to say, as he picked up Hermione properly and started to walk down the stairs. 

"What happened?" Mrs. Granger asked, looking worried. 

"She fainted" Harry said, unable to think of an intelligent response. 

"Well that's obvious. Why?" Mr. Granger asked rather rudely, but he was looking anxious.

"Well...Uh…she just heard what you said…" Harry responded awkwardly. 

Hermione's mum's eyes widened, "Oh dear, that really isn't how we would've liked her to find out" she said, brushing a strand of hair out of her daughter's face. 

"I told you she wouldn't take it well." Mr. Granger said to his wife. 

"Could you take her up to bed please Harry?" she said, sighing sadly. 

"Don't you think you owe her an explanation?" he said incredulously. 

"I don't think you should be telling us how to raise our daughter Harry" Mr. Granger said coldly, but his wife frowned at him. 

"Don't talk to him like that Michael, he's right, she deserves to know everything…they both do." she said, gesturing for Harry to follow her back to the couch. 

"I'll leave you three alone" Mr. Granger said, and walked up the stairs, slamming his door angrily. 

Mrs. Granger rolled her eyes, and sat down by Hermione's feet, who was still being cradled in Harry's arms. 

"Hermione? Hermione wake up sweetheart" She repeated, patting her daughter on the shoulder but it didn't work. 

"Try kissing her, Harry" she said, looking up at him. 

"What?" he asked surprised. "How would that help?" 

She smiled, "It works all the time on my husband" she said, and Harry looked at her strangely, surely she was joking. 

Despite that, he kissed her softly on the lips, feeling awkward in front of Hermione's mum. Miraculously, a couple seconds after he'd pulled away, Hermione's eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes. 

She looked up into Harry's smiling face, "Did you just kiss me?" she asked, her cheeks flushed. 

Harry and Mrs. Granger laughed, "Yeah I did, your mum said it would wake you up" he looked over at her, "I thought she'd gone mad but I guess not!" he said.

Mrs. Granger smiled, but quickly turned serious. "Do you remember what you heard before you fainted, darling?" she asked, as Hermione crawled off Harry's lap and onto the couch next to him. 

She glanced at Harry, who looked like he was dying to hear what had been going on, and took a deep breath. "Yes…" she said, not wanting to say anything else. 

Her mum nodded, "All right, just let me go get some things, it'll help explain the story." She said, getting up and walking up the stairs. 

Hermione was silent the whole time until her mum got back, sitting on the couch in between them, carrying a large cardboard box. "Okay well I don't really know where to start but…I am a witch Hermione, I'm sorry I never told you but after…Si- er…I mean Black left I decided to live as a muggle" she said, looking like she found it hard to say Sirius' name like Harry did nowadays. 

"Wait a minute…so, Sirius Black…he's Hermione's dad?" he asked unable to believe what he was saying. She nodded sadly, and 

Hermione looked like she was going to faint again. "Wha…how..I..that's so…weird! and _really _ hard to believe" 

"I don't understand…" Harry muttered to himself. 

"I'm sorry I never told you Hermione, I just didn't know how you'd react to knowing your father was a…well a murderer." She said quietly, unfortunately not knowing the truth.

Hermione looked at Harry, who'd looked more than annoyed at her sentence. "He wasn't a murderer" he said, looking away as she glanced at him curiously. 

"What do you mean Harry of course he…" Mrs. Granger started but Harry cut her off. 

"Before we keep talking about this Mrs. Granger, there's something you need to understand…Sirius was innocent." He started. 

Mrs. Granger looked at him strangely, "That can't be possible" she said disbelievingly. 

But Hermione spoke up, "Listen to him Mum, it's true, Sirius never killed anyone" she said quietly.

"How do you two even know him?" Her mum asked and Harry began to explain the long story about Peter betraying his parents, and faking his own death, how Sirius had escaped to kill his so called friend, how Harry was his godson…everything. Except the one fact that he still had trouble facing, and just couldn't bring himself to say…

Mrs. Granger's face was unreadable for a moment, "Sirius is innocent…" she whispered to herself as if to confirm it, and Harry nodded. "He…He never betrayed Lily and James?" she said again, and Harry shook his head, finding it odd that she'd mention his parents. 

She put her head in her hands, "And I believed he was guilty all these years…I feel so awful" she said, starting to cry softly. 

"Did you know my mum and dad?" Harry asked, feeling a lump rise in his throat, as Hermione patted her mum on the back. 

She nodded, looking up at him with shining eyes, "Lily was my best friend since first year, James too, although Lily wasn't too keen on him then" she said, actually managing a small laugh through her tears. 

Harry smiled; but he had a gnawing feeling of guilt in his stomach; he still hadn't told her what had happened to Sirius. 

"And Sirius…I had the biggest crush on him since fourth year…when he asked me out in sixth year I was so amazed." She said, smiling to herself, clearly remembering the moment.

Hermione looked at her mum, "Did you ever get married?" she asked curiously. 

She shook her head sadly, "We were engaged when I became pregnant with you sweetheart, we were going to get married when you were about one years old but…" Harry looked away painfully as she paused "well there's no need for me to tell you what happened on Halloween" she finished, her voice cracking with emotion. 

A few tears fell down Hermione's cheek as she looked at Harry, who was determinedly looking at the floor.

"Anyway" Mrs. Granger said suddenly, clearly trying to change the subject as she wiped away her tears, "I guess I still have some other things to explain" she said. 

Harry and Hermione looked at her expectantly, Harry extremely glad they were away from that subject. He wanted to tell her about Sirius, but he just couldn't get the words out. 

"Well I guess its obvious now why there are no photos of you and your father in here Hermione" she said gesturing to the photo album on the table. 

"Did you know that you two used to be best friends when you were first born?" she asked, and they both nodded. 

"You forgot about one of the photos Mrs. Granger, that's why we started asking questions in the first place." Harry said, flipping through the album and showing her the photo. 

"Oh, how silly of me…" she said, shaking her head, "Well…actually in a way I'm rather glad you found it" She closed the book and turned to the two of them. "I've wanted to tell you this for ages Hermione, especially that day when you came home for Christmas during your first year, telling me all about your new friend" she said smiling at Harry, and they both laughed lightly. 

"I was so surprised when you told me his name…all the memories from our days at Hogwarts came flooding back." She said laughing, "I always love it when you come over Harry, it feels exactly like I'm with James again" She added giving him a warm smile, which he returned. 

"I'm sure you're tired of everyone telling you how much you look like your father, though are you?" she asked, but he shook his head. 

"I like hearing it actually" he said truthfully, and she grinned. 

"Yes, you look just like him…except your eyes…" she looked at the dazzling green orbs, "You've got your mother's eyes" Harry and Hermione recited with her, making them all laugh. 

"Everyone always says that" Hermione said, grinning at him. "They're gorgeous" The moment she said it, she regretted how stupid it had sounded. "Well…uh you know what I mean" she muttered awkwardly as her mother had smirked at her and Harry had laughed. "So mum, what's in the box?" she said, getting the spotlight off of herself.

 "Oh, these are the photos I had to take out of the album, would you like to see them?" she asked them both. 

"Yeah sure!" Hermione said happily, but Harry didn't share her feelings. There was bound to be tons of photos of Sirius in there, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep it together. Unfortunately, her mum had already picked up a large stack and placed them on her lap, passing them to Hermione, who passed them to Harry. 

Luckily, the first bunch were just of Harry and Hermione when they were little. "Awww, look how cute this is!!" Hermione said, showing Harry and absolutely adorable photo of Harry and Hermione asleep on a chair, looking like they were nearly a year old. 

Harry smiled rather falsely, dreading the photos that he knew were coming. After many snaps of baby Harry and Hermione in cute little outfits, Sirius showed up. The first one seemed to remind Hermione of what they hadn't told her mum, as she looked sideways at Harry, quickly wiping a tear away from her cheek. It was a young looking Sirius in a healers robe, holding a new born Hermione. He looked entranced as he stared at her in awe, playing with her tiny fingers. Harry sighed as he put it on the coffee table; this was going to be rough.  

As the last few photos were passed around, Harry and Hermione had reached their limit, especially Harry. The last one was the one that got Hermione…Sirius and James were sitting by the fire, grinning and laughing as they held their children. James and Harry were both wearing matching black t-shirts that said 'Prongs' on them, and Sirius and Hermione were wearing similar ones that said 'Padfoot' on them. 

Hermione suddenly let out a sob, letting her tears flow freely, which wasn't much help to Harry. He took her hand in his, but made sure not to look at her. 

Mrs. Granger looked between them both but her eyes rested on Harry, "Oh my…I'm so sorry dear, I shouldn't have showed you all these photos of your parents" she said quietly. 

Harry shook his head, "It's not just that" he managed, without sounding too choked up. 

"What do you…" Mrs. Granger quickly glanced at Hermione, "Why are you so upset sweetheart?" she asked, totally at sea. 

Hermione glanced at Harry, who felt her eyes on him. "Can you tell her please" he said quietly, and Hermione nodded, trying to wipe away her tears but they just kept coming. 

"Mum…Sirius…" she began, her voice breaking already, "…Sirius isn't…he's not with us anymore" Hermione said delicately but her mum looked at her slightly confused. 

"What do you mean he's not with us…" she said questioningly. 

"Mum he died" Hermione said in a hoarse whisper, not bothering to wipe her tears away anymore. 

Mrs. Granger simply stared at them for what seemed like ages before it hit her. Tears started to fall silently down her face, but before she could ask any questions Harry stood up quickly. "I'm sorry, I have to go" he said quietly, returning to his room as fast as he could.

Okay I know the idea of Sirius being Hermione's father is kind of strange but…whatever! If you didn't like it you can stop reading, and if you did please review! I greatly appreciate it. 


	7. Chapter 7

Meet You There

Chapter Seven 

Harry walked into his room, glad to be away from all the photos, as he undressed and pulled on a pair of pajama pants, climbing into bed. He lay down staring at the top of the canopy bed, he'd never been less tired and he was feeling guilty about just leaving Hermione alone downstairs to deal with her mother. 

Suddenly it came to him, Hermione had basically found out that her dad had died today. Of course Sirius had died at the end of last year, but she hadn't known he was her father then. 

Harry felt terrible, he hadn't been the least bit comforting. All he'd been thinking about was him self and his own loss, but what about Hermione's? She was experiencing the same grief that he was, if not worse. Worst of all the thought of Hermione crying herself to sleep kept playing over in his mind. "_Damn…I've missed my chance to comfort her and now she's all alone" _he thought to himself miserably. Suddenly he realized he could just go talk to her now…she was probably still awake anyway. 

But right when he was about to get up, the door to his room opened slowly. He swore he could hear someone crying quietly as they shut it behind them, and he figured it was Hermione but it was hard to tell as it was so dark. 

Harry sat up in bed, "Hermione?" he asked quietly, as she reached his bed.  

"I just realized…" she whispered, bur couldn't finish her sentence, as she stood there crying helplessly. 

Harry looked at her, his heart breaking to see her like this. She didn't need to finish what she was saying, he understood her perfectly, it had just really hit her that her dad was gone, like it had himself. 

He got out of bed and gently wrapped his arms around her, as she held on to him, clearly needing it. "You can stay with me tonight if you want, Mione" he said softly, guiding her back on to the bed as she nodded.  

Harry pulled the covers over them, rubbing her back soothingly and whispering comforting words in her ear, trying to calm her down. Gradually, Hermione's tears stopped coming, and she relaxed into Harry's body as she fell asleep. Harry continued to watch her, smiling, until he finally drifted off into a peaceful slumber. 

Hermione was positively glowing as the walked gracefully towards him, arm in arm with Sirius. She'd taken Harry's breath away the moment she'd entered the room. Sirius smiling down proudly at his only daughter and placed her hand in Harry's as they reached the altar. He smiled at his godson, walking towards the back of the altar to stand with Ron and James, Lily and Ginny on the opposite side.  

As they walked up to the Dumbledore hand in hand, Harry looked down at his soon-to-be wife, who was looking back up at him, eyes shining with joyous tears. "I love you" he whispered softly. She smiled at him, moving a whisp of dark hair out of his eyes, looking alight with happiness as she replied, "I love you too" 

Harry's eyes shot open…what the hell was that?! Why would he of dreamt about something like that? He didn't love her! Not that way anyway….she was his friend**, **that was it. 

Well there was that time when they were dancing…holding her in his arms had felt so perfect and…no he didn't, he _couldn't_. But what about when he had to help her undress yesterday…he'd wanted to kiss her and maybe even… NO. I do _not _love her like that.  

Hermione suddenly moved in his arms; she was waking up. Harry readied himself, deciding to try to forget about the dream, that's all it was, a silly _dream. _

But as Hermione opened her eyes slowly, he felt a strange sensation in his stomach. She looked up at him slightly surprised. "What are you doing in my bed?" she asked looking at him strangley. 

Harry returned the look, "This is the guest bed, you slept in here with me last night, remember?" he told her, amazed she'd forgotten.

"Ohh…right." She said quietly, "I can't believe I just came in here and made you share your bed, sorry" she said feeling a bit guilty.

Harry shook his head, "It's not a problem Mione, I didn't mind at all" he said truthfully. 

"Good because I think that was the best sleep I've ever had" she said laughing.

Harry simply laughed nervously, he felt exactly the same.

"I had a dream about you, you know" she said, and he raised his eyebrows. "Really? I had one about you too" he said without thinking, "Erm…I can't really remember it though" he added hastily… he couldn't tell her what he'd dreamt about…he wasn't even sure what it had meant yet, and he didn't want her getting any ideas. 

"Oh that's a shame! I love hearing other people's dreams" she replied, with a fake pout, making Harry laugh. She was so perfect. She was so…what?! She wasn't perfect, what was he…okay well yeah maybe a bit…but that did NOT mean he loved her… 

"I remember my dream though, do you want to hear it?" she asked, though he knew no matter what he said she'd tell him anyway. 

"Sure" he said, and she smiled. 

"Well it started out kind of bad, I was crying about something in the girls dorm at Hogwarts…" she started, "It seemed like everyone in the school was standing around me in the dorm though that's not even possible. All the professors were there, and even Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins…" A disgusted look flashed across Harry's face when she said his name, but as she rolled her eyes at him, it was gone. 

"Except one person was missing…you" 

Where the hell was he, Harry thought. "But then the door opened, and you walked in…it was strange, the whole crowd suddenly seemed all blurry, and all I saw was you walking towards me." 

Hermione closed her eyes as if trying to remember something… "For some reason I stopped crying when I saw you…and then you picked me up off the floor, and kissed me. Everyone started clapping…" She laughed, obviously remembering the hilarity of it, but Harry felt himself going red. "Then I told you, you were my superman or something" Harry snorted; now that was funny. 

Hermione giggled along with him, "And then, we flew out the window…and…" she was finding it hard to talk in between her laughs, "…I realized you had one of those muggle superman costumes on!" she finished and Harry roared with laughter. 

Harry was about to speak through his laughter, but he was interrupted as someone knocked on the door, not waiting to hear a reply as they walked in. Harry felt slightly terrified as he saw Mr. Granger looked at him in complete disgust. "What on earth is going on in here!"

"Nothing, honestly" Hermione said, to the man she would now know as her stepfather, "I was upset, so…" she started but he rudely interrupted her. 

"So Potter here thought he could take advantage and feel you up did he??" he yelled angrily and Harry winced at what he must be thinking.

He realized it must've looked even worse from where he was standing, he probably though Harry was wearing nothing at all. Clearly that was the case as he looked at him as if he was the most horrible thing he'd even laid eyes on.   

"WHAT!!? Of course not, Harry was just being a good friend…he was comforting me all right??!" Hermione said, looking outraged that he would say such a thing.  "And don't look at him like that! Who do you think you are!?" she added fuming, seeing the look he'd shot at Harry. 

"I'm your father Hermione, don't speak to me like that! It's obvious what's been happening here!" he shouted, obviously very taken aback. 

She got out of bed and walked slowly over to him.  "Sirius is my father, you can't tell me what to do" she said her voice quaking.  

Mr. Granger's eyes flashed angrily, "How can you call that moron your father!? He's spent half his life in prison for committing the murder of 13 people, and you haven't even seen him since you were a year old!" he shouted, "I raised you!!" 

Harry felt anger rising inside him as Mr. Granger continued to yell at Hermione, and insult his godfather.

"He doesn't love you Hermione! He wanted your mother for one thing only all right? He didn't want a child; you were just an accident in his plan to get in bed with her!" 

Harry jumped out of bed, unable to control him self, "Sirius wasn't like that you miserable old…" he started, ready to punch him right in the face, but Hermione caught his arm. She stared at the man in front of her a tear falling down her face, his last comment hitting her hard. 

"Look Hermione, I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry I…" Mr. Granger started, reaching towards her but Hermione slapped him across the face much like she had Malfoy in third year. He staggered, and she seemed to have got her voice back, "Don't touch me" she said, in almost a whisper.  

Hermione walked over to the door pointing out into the hall, "Get out" Mr. Granger looked at her obviously regretting what he had said. "Hermione, I'm…" more tears fell down her pained face, "GET OUT!" she half screamed half sobbed. He sighed and reluctantly walked out the door.

Hermione stood with her back to Harry, not wanting him to see her crying yet again. But no sooner had she slammed the door, had she felt Harry's arms wrap around her, "I've told you it's okay to cry Hermione" he said, for some reason unable to keep himself from being so affectionate towards her.

"Let's just go, I have to leave" she said quietly, removing herself from Harry's arms. "I don't know where we can stay but…" she trailed off and Harry nodded. 

"Do you want me to help you pack?" he asked. 

"No, that's all right, you just get all your stuff ready" she said, opening the door for him. 

A little while later, Harry was lugging the two trunks down the stairs, while Hermione held his invisibility cloak just in case, with Hedwig's cage and Crookshanks tucked under her arm.  

Unfortunately, as they were unlocking the front door, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and had to throw themselves into a nearby closet, as Harry chucked the cloak over their luggage. "Hermione?" Mr. Granger sighed sadly, as he saw no one, and walked into the kitchen. 

Climbing out of the closet from beneath a pile of coats that had landed on them, they quietly walked back over to the door opening it silently. They crept out side, holding their belongings, and let out a deep sigh of relief as they shut the door behind them. 

"That was lucky" Hermione said, walking down the path, taking out her wand. 

"So where do you want to stay? The Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked, as she stuck her wand high up in the air. 

"I don't think so Harry" came a new, but familiar voice from behind them. They both jumped as they saw the person standing there, and Hermione put her wand down. 

"Mr. Lupin? What're you doing here?" Harry asked completely nonplussed. 

"Well…you're still being watched Harry" he said matter of factly.

"I should've expected that" he responded only slightly annoyed. 

"We've been watching you here, making sure everything all right but I'm afraid you can't stay here anymore Harry, or the Leaky Cauldron" he said regretfully, "It's just not safe, and we all have other things to look after" 

Harry sighed, "I thought something like this might happen…well where can we stay then? I'm not going back to the Dursleys" he said, and Lupin nodded.

"I understand Harry, you can come stay with me" he said, sticking his wand up in the air, like Hermione had earlier. 

"Where's that?" Harry asked. But Lupin didn't answer as the Knight Bus had come screeching to a halt in front of them. Stan Shunpike looked at them excitedly, "Where are we off to now Mr. Potter?" he said, and Lupin rolled his eyes. 

"Stop it will you" he said annoyed, paying him and getting onto the bus. "Grimmauld Place, please" he said quickly and quietly but Harry and Hermione had heard. 

"We're going _there_?" Harry said glancing at Hermione, then back at Lupin. 

"I'm afraid so Harry, you see…" he cleared his throat awkwardly, "Sirius…he made up his will along time ago when Voldemort was searching for your parents…he wanted to have one incase anything happened while he was being your parents secret keeper" He looked at the ground, clearly not comfortable about the subject. 

"Well, the point is, he left everything he owned to James and myself" 

Sorry its short, please review! Any thing is great!


	8. Owls and Surprises

Meet You There

Chapter Eight

Harry sat still, stunned into silence…trying to figure out what it all meant, but Hermione beat him too it. "So…basically…half of everything Sirius owns…goes to Harry?" she asked astonished.

Lupin nodded, "The house will go to you Harry, as I already own my own home, and the money will be split between us" he was looking rather uncomfortable, and Harry didn't think it had anything to do with grief.

"What about Sirius' family?" Hermione asked.

"Well you know how he felt about them…don't you?" Lupin said, looking surprised, but Harry knew what she meant instantly.

"Well yes…but what about his…**other **family?" Harry cut in, looking pointedly at Hermione, and Lupin's eyes widened slightly.

"Do you…" he started, looking between them aghast.

Hermione nodded, "My mum just told us yesterday" she said quietly, looking upset once again.

Lupin looked at her sympathetically, "I'm so sorry Hermione, I know it must feel awful that no one told you all these years…" he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "…but Sirius made us promise."

"He really wanted to be a proper father to you Hermione, but he didn't think it was right to take you from your parents" he continued quietly, "Especially since he'd been in Azkaban for most of your life"

A tear dropped from Hermione's face as she looked up at him, "He should've told me, I understand why he couldn't be there, it wasn't his fault!" she said desperately.

"I know he should have, but he made that choice, and we can't do anything about it" Lupin replied trying not to sound too harsh. "He wouldn't have wanted you to cry over him though Hermione, he's probably ashamed of how we're all behaving"

Harry looked at Lupin strangely, "You know how Sirius was Harry, he hated it when people were sad all the time, he hated being kept indoors or moping about like we all are." he said, smiling as he remember his best friend. "He was a lively and energetic person, always wanting to make people laugh, he wouldn't have wanted us to act like this." he explained, looking at the both of them.

Harry sighed, "Your right of course, I just can't be happy right now" he said, and Hermione nodded as if she agreed, but tried to stop crying all the same.

"Well we've got to try…for Sirius" Lupin said, smiling warmly at them. "And now that you know about this…" he gestured towards Hermione, "…I can tell you what's exactly supposed to happen with his things" He took in a deep breath and started to explain everything, Sirius had left his house to either his daughter, Hermione, or The Potters, so really it belonged to both Harry and Hermione now. "And between us, we'll split the money in his vault at Gringotts…I'll take care of that for us" he finished heavily.

"So, when we graduate from Hogwarts…we'll live at Grimmauld Place?" Harry asked.

Lupin nodded, "If you choose to do so…of course you don't have to decide that yet"

"Is it still being used for the Order?" Harry asked, and Lupin flinched

"Be careful!" he said fiercely, glancing behind him at an elderly woman.

"She's asleep" Harry said dully.

"It doesn't matter, you have to be careful, I thought you would know that by now" He replied looking seriously at Harry, "...and yes it is" he added in a whisper.

"But what about last year…" Hermione said with no need to explain herself.

"Professor Snape has given a certain Death Eater a 'hint' that we've moved to a new hideout, a long way away from here, and of course they're bound to tell Voldemort that"

"Isn't that a bit risky?" Hermione said, looking at Harry and he shrugged.

"We all have to take risks and some time or another Hermione" Lupin replied simply.

The three of them were quiet for a few minutes; there really wasn't anything to say. But suddenly Hermione began looking in her purse, appearing to have remembered something.

"What're you doing?" Harry asked her, as she pulled out two envelopes.

"This morning, after I left your room we both got letters from Hogwarts, it's strange that they sent yours to me too…" she said shrugging and handing him one.

"It's a bit early for our supply lists, isn't it?" Harry said, but Lupin spoke up.

"I think I might know what it is" he said smilling.

Hermione gasped, "Is it our O.W.L results!?" she asked excitedly.

"That was my guess" he said, "They usually come rather early"

Hermione looked excited but Harry's stomach plummeted, he'd forgotten all about them. What if he hadn't done well enough to possibly be an Auror? It was the only job he'd really ever considered. He would've had to get a pretty decent mark in Potions to get into Snape's Newt class.

As he looked down at Hermione beside him, he was surprised to see that she hadn't opened her letter yet, in fact she was fidgeting in her seat.

"I can't do it Harry, what if I failed everything?!" she said, looking frantic, but Harry and Lupin snorted with laughter.

"That's impossible Hermione" Lupin said laughing, "But let's wait till we get inside to open it shall we?" he suggested, as the bus came to a screeching halt. They both agreed, and put their letters away as they exited the bus.

Harry thought, "Number 12 Grimmauld Place" and suddenly the door appeared, he looked at Hermione and saw a feeling of apprehension in her eyes, which he knew must be reflected in his own.

But as they stepped into the entrance hall there wasn't enough time to dwell on their feelings, as more than a dozen people appeared screaming "SURPRISE!!!"

Hermione screamed as Harry had taken a step back in shock. He looked at Hermione and started to laugh at the look on her face.

"Shut up Harry" she said, hitting him playfully, as she saw him laughing at her.

Harry looked around at the people gathered around them and gave a start as he saw the entire Weasley family. "I thought you were on holiday!" he said looking at the family of red heads.

Mrs. Weasley smiled, "I'm afraid we told you a bit of a fib Harry" she said grinning.

Harry laughed, but the sound died in his throat as he took in his surroundings for the first time. It was completely re done. The walls were painted in a gorgeous sky blue, and the floors were no longer covered with moth eaten carpet. Instead they now stood on a gleaming hard wood floor, looking like it had just been freshly polished. The chandeliers, lamps, bookcases, everything, was shining spectacularly. He couldn't shake the feeling that it looked oddly familiar.

He simply stood there gaping like an idiot at the newly decorated house. Hermione had her hand clasped over her mouth as she looked around herself. "What…how…" Harry tried to say something but found he was lost for words.

Ron stepped in, "When Professor Lupin… "

"Remus, Ron, please call me Remus" he added in before Ron could say anything else and everyone laughed.

"All right, when Remus told us you were going to inherit the house Harry, we wanted to fix it up for you" he said, "We all helped" he said, gesturing to the group around him.

"I can't believe this…I don't really know what to say…thank you…" Harry managed, looking in awe at the people standing in front of him. "How did you manage it?" he added, amazed at all the work they'd done.

Seamus spoke up laughing, "Loads of work mate" he said, and everyone murmured their agreement.

"You're worth it though Harry, all the stuff you do for us" George said,

"Yeah, I think we all owe you one" Fred added and Harry smiled at their sincere words.

"Thanks" he said simply, going slightly red in the face. He never really knew how to take compliments like that.

Beside him, Hermione seemed to have gotten her voice back, "How come no one told me?!" she asked, looking indignant.

Ron snorted, "Why didn't we tell _you_?Come off it Hermione you know you can't keep secrets" he said, and a couple fellow Gryffindors started to laugh as well.

"What are you on about, of course I can!" she said angrily.

Harry was trying desperately to keep a straight face, as he was expecting Hermione to blow up beside him any second. He was right.

"Stop laughing, I could've kept it a secret, it's important!" she ranted on for a good minute until Harry put his hands on both of her shoulders.

"Hermione calm down." He said in her ear, laughing quietly still, along with the rest. She shivered slightly, and immediately stopped her tirade. She turned around, to look at him curiously, and gasped his sparkling emerald eyes. Harry let go of her as if he'd been stung.

Everyone in the room looked at them confused of what had happened, as Harry and Hermione looked at each other, unable to understand what they were feeling. Harry felt like he simply could not make himself look away, fortunately Ron interrupted. "Erm, guys?" he said, making them look up at him quickly.

"What?" they said together and a few people in the group shared knowing glances.

"You kind of just zoned out for a minute there" Ron said laughing

They both forced a laugh, "I guess we're a bit tired…" Harry said meekly.

Fred and George were smirking, and Ron had a confused frown on his face, but everyone else had started talking again

"Well let's get this party started shall we?" Remus said loudly, trying to direct everyone's attention away from the awkwardness of the moment, and steered them all towards the kitchen.

Harry glanced at Hermione, who gave him the best smile she could at the moment, before walking in front of him and following Remus.

"This looks new Harry, where'd you get it?"

Everyone was sitting around the large table, eating and chatting merrily; Harry was sitting in between Hermione and Ginny, who was now gesturing towards his black sweatshirt, and jeans.

Harry was about to answer her, when Hermione cut in "Me and Harry went on a shopping spree in muggle London" she said grinning.

Many of the boys laughed loudly as Harry's rolled his eyes.

"I needed clothes, it's not like I enjoyed it" he said, glaring at Hermione, who just laughed.

"Sorry Harry, I know I said I wouldn't call it that, but I couldn't help myself" she said trying not to laugh at him.

Harry's glare quickly melted as he watched Hermione laughing, he just shrugged as the twins continued to laugh at him.

A little while later, as Harry was taking a sip of his butterbeer, Remus appeared behind him, "Can I talk to you for a moment Harry" he asked, looking pointedly out the door.

Harry nodded, and pushed his chair back, getting up from the table. Once they were out in the hall, Remus shut the door, and looked at Harry, "I just want to know why you and Hermione left her house this morning" he said in a would be casual voice. "I mean…nothing bad happened, did it?" he added, looking slightly worried.

Harry sighed, "Nothing too bad, Mr. Granger just…well he kind of insulted Sirius and it really upset Hermione…and me come to think of it" he said, looking slightly angry.

"But it was bad enough for Hermione to actually want to run away?" he asked, looking almost sceptical.

"Yeah…she was really upset about it." Harry answered.

"Are you sure you can't tell me Harry?" Remus asked looking not only curious, but worried.

"I'm not sure if Hermione would like me to, you could ask her though…she might tell you." Harry responded.

Remus looked like he'd given up, "No that's okay Harry…but I do have another question." He said, smirking.

"What…?" Harry said, not having the slightest idea what it could be.

"What's going on with you and Hermione?" he said with his smirk still in place.

"What do you mean…" he said completely lost.

"Oh come off it Harry, you know what I mean" Remus responded teasingly, "You like her don't you?"

"Well of course I like her…she's my friend."

Remus rolled his eyes, "Honestly Harry, you're dumb as a board sometimes…I meant that you like her more than a friend"

Harry looked at him as if he'd gone mad, "Why on earth would you think that?? Of course I don't like her like that!" But while he was saying it, he felt his cheeks growing hot.

Remus chuckled, "Sure Harry" he said simply patting him on the shoulder, as he walked past him and back into the kitchen.

"You're nutters!" Harry yelled after him, flushing as the whole kitchen turned to look at him.

Harry laughed nervously as the room burst into laughter, and walked quietly back to the table. "What was that all about?" Hermione asked him as he sat down.

"Nothing" he said, stuffing his mouth with food so he couldn't answer anymore questions.

"Bye Harry!"

It was around 12:30 and mostly everyone was leaving. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Seamus and Kate were standing by the door saying good bye to everyone.

"Sorry I can't stay Harry, but I've got football practice tomorrow morning" Dean Thomas said as he pulled away from Ginny who'd given him a hug and a kiss on the cheek while Ron had glared at them. Seamus and Kate were staying, along with Hermione and the Weasley's, and Dean didn't look to happy about having to leave.

"Ahh well, at least we'll see you next week!" Harry said trying to cheer him up, but he still looked gloomy,

"Yeah I guess, see you then, bye guys, bye Gin" he said waving as he left.

Suddenly Harry yelled after him, "Hey, aren't you going to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

Dean turned around and grinned, "Hey I forgot about that!" he said, his mood picking up in an instant.

"Then we'll see you tomorrow!" Harry said laughing, and Dean grinned again, getting into one of the cars at the end of the path.

"Bye!" he yelled, as they drove away down the street.

"I wish I could stay too Harry but I didn't do too well on my O.W.L's so my gran won't let me" Neville said, as he walked past Harry.

"I totally forgot about those, we haven't read them yet" Harry said, turning to look at Hermione, who's eyes had widened.

"I can't believe I forgot too, it's so important!" she said, looking quite annoyed with herself.

"Well good luck, I'll see you at school since I already got my Hogwarts things" Neville said, waving, and walking down the path.

They all said good bye to Neville and as soon as Harry shut the door Hermione spoke up, "Let's go open our letters!" she said excitedly, running up the stairs before anyone could say anything.

The rest of the group laughed but followed her anyway, "So how'd you guys do?" Harry asked the others as they walked up the stairs casually.

"I did pretty well…" Seamus said, looking rather proud of himself.

"I didn't get as many as I would've liked" Ron said, looking rather miserable about it.

"Oh well, there's always the N.E.W.T's eh?" Harry said trying to cheer him up.

He shrugged, "I guess so" he said simply as they reached the room that the girls were staying in.

Hermione stood up from the bed, holding the two envelopes in her hand, "Merlin how slow do you people walk!?" she said exasperatedly, handing Harry his letter.

He felt the nervousness he'd felt when he'd first seen the letter coming back to him, he hoped desperately that he'd gotten what he needed.

The group sat down together on the large bed, nearest to the door, and watched as Harry and Hermione tore open their letters.

But as Hermione took the letter out of her envelope she handed it to Harry, "I can't do it, open it for me" she said, looking at Harry anxiously.

"Hermione you probably did better than the lot of us, what are you on about?" Seamus said, laughing along with the others, but she simply gave Harry a pleading look.

"All right, if you're that worried, give it to me" he said laughing, "You can open mine"

The pair of them opened the letters at the same time, the looks on their faces mirroring each others.

"What'd you get?" the other four asked impatiently.

Harry looked up from the paper and grinned at Hermione, who was grinning right back, "You got Outstanding in every subject Hermione!" Harry said laughing, feeling truly ecstatic for her.

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Honestly??!" she gasped, and started to laugh herself out of pure happiness.

Harry nodded, "What'd I get?" he asked apprehensively, but the feeling was gone in an instant, as Hermione smiled at him, and handed him the paper. Harry's mouth fell open as he read it:

Ordinary Wizarding Level Result for Harry James Potter

Herbology – Outstanding

Potions – Exceeds Expectations

Divination – Acceptable

Defence Against the Dark Arts – Outstanding

Charms - Outstanding

Transfiguration – Outstanding

History of Magic – Poor

Care of Magical Creatures – Outstanding

"I can't believe it" he said hoarsely, "I passed everything except History of Magic!" he said happily.

"Congratulations" Seamus said, grinning, "Can I see your paper?"

"Yeah sure" he said, passing it over, as the rest of them read it over his shoulder.

"Wow, good job Harry!" Ginny and Kate said together.

Ron nodded, and gave him a somewhat forced smile, "Well done mate" he said as he gave him a one armed hug, looking like he was really trying hard to look happy.

"Thanks" Harry said grinning, as Hermione looked at him proudly.

"Well done Harry" she said, giving him his last hug.

"Harry!! Get up you lazy git! Ron and Seamus have already gone downstairs!" Female laughter filled the room, as Harry slowly opened his eyes the next morning. He spotted a blur of blonde, brown and red, and groaned. Having girls wake you up was a lot worse than having Ron do it, all he did was throw pillows at you until you woke up…but girls…

Harry was suddenly ambushed as Hermione and Ginny jumped on top of him, tickling him anywhere they could reach, laughing hysterically, as Kate watched holding her side while she laughed.

"GET OFF! GET OFF!!" Harry yelled in between his laughter, and easily pushing them both off him and dumping them at the end of the bed. They looked slightly put out for a second, but quickly got over it and started laughing again. "All right, you had your fun, but I'm going to have a shower now, so can you leave please?" Harry said looking at them amused, and getting up off the bed, walking over to his own bathroom.

The girls nodded, "Okay but breakfast will be ready in 10 minutes so you better hurry up Harry" Hermione said, and continued to laugh as she walked out the door with Kate and Ginny, shutting it behind them.

Harry laughed and looked around his new room one more time before going into the bathroom. He couldn't believe he'd actually be living here when he wasn't at school…no more Dursleys…wait…What?! "No more Dursleys" Harry muttered to himself, suddenly leaping with joy towards the bathroom. As he walked in and shut the door he thought, "This might not be such a bad year after all"

Hope you liked it, please review!


	9. Breathless

Meet You There

Chapter Nine – Breathless

 The daylight's fading slowly  
But time with you is standing still  
I'm waiting for you only  
The slightest touch and I feel weak  
I cannot lie, from you I cannot hide  
And I'm losing the will to try  
Can't hide it, can't fight it   
So go on,  leave me breathless…

"Here he comes, finally!"

Hermione turned around as Ginny had said it, and felt a smile creep across her face as she looked at her famous best friend, who was wearing his new Fcuk shirt and a pair of khakis. His hair was still a bit wet and messier than ever before as he continued to pointlessly run his hands through it, unsuccessfully attempting to fix his messy main. He sat down opposite her, his shirt quickly attracting Ron's attention.

"Bloody hell mate, where'd you get that!!?"

Hermione found herself thinking about how adorable Harry looked when he laughed, as he and Ron started to roar with laughter over his silly shirt.

She was quickly shaken out of her thoughts however as Kate nudged her, "You're staring Hermione" she muttered out of the corner of her mouth, smirking to herself as she took a sip of her juice.

A faint tinge of pink rose up on Hermione's cheek, "No I'm not, I just…I...uh…" she stammered, what had she been doing?

Kate snickered, "Its all right Hermione, I would too if I wasn't with Seamus here." She said in her southern accent, grinning at the boy next to her, who smiled back and put his arm around her, unaware of what they were talking about.

"Erm…anyways, how about we get to know each other better?" Hermione asked, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from this awkward and somewhat confusing subject.

Kate knew what she was doing, but decided to let it go, "Okay sure" she said, putting down her fork.

Hermione smiled, looking relieved, "All right so…how did you and Seamus meet if you're from the states?"

Kate smiled at Seamus, and looked back at Hermione, "Well a while ago, our teachers told us about a type of pen pal program they were working on..." She started, "They said you could write to a witch or wizard who went to a school called Hogwarts in England. I thought it sounded kind of interesting, so I signed up for it…"

Hermione nodded, "…and Seamus was your pen pal" she finished for her.

"Exactly" Kate said happily.

"Yes I thought about getting involved in that program, but I already had Viktor as a pen pal so I decided not to" she said, Ron's head whipping around to glare at her from where he'd been listening to the conversation.

"You're still writing to him eh? How is old Vicky?" he said teasingly, but was visibly annoyed by this topic. Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored him.

"Well how come you moved to England? Surely not for Seamus!" Hermione said laughing.

"Hey!" Seamus said pretending to be offended.

Kate laughed, "In a way it was because of him actually, from his letters it sounded like Hogwarts was a much better school than mine. And I've never been to England before, I thought it'd be fun" she explained.

Hermione's looked slightly sceptical, "You're whole family moved just for you?" she asked, surprised.

"Oh no of course not, I came here by myself" she answered laughing, "I'm just staying at Hogwarts for my last two years. Most likely I'll have to go home for the summer" 

"Oh I see, wow I don't think I could ever leave, I don't think I could live without my friends with me all the time" she said, clearly glancing at Harry and he smiled back at her.

"Me neither" 

"Yeah well, I didn't get along with too many people at my old school anyway" Kate said casually.

"What school did you go to?" Ginny asked Kate, while Ron was still looking extremely disgruntled about the news that Hermione was still writing to Krum, and Harry hid a smirk. He knew Krum wouldn't be getting in the way of anything, so it didn't bother him.

"The Southern States Magic Academy" she answered promptly. "It's in Alabama."

Harry looked at her in interest, "Alabama? They've got one of the top Quidditch teams in America!" he said, and everyone looked at him strangely.

"How'd you know that?" Ron and Seamus said at the same time, while Ginny and Kate looked curious, but Hermione smiled knowingly.

"I read it in a book Hermione gave me" he said simply, looking at her.

"Are you any good at Quidditch?" Ron asked, and she blushed lightly

"Well…I suppose I…" she stammered but Seamus butt in.

"She's fantastic, I've seen her!" he said, looking at his girlfriend proudly.

"Excellent" Harry said, looking happy, "Maybe you can be on the team this year, we need a new chaser…three actually." He said, laughing.

"That'd be great!! I just hope I'm in Gryffindor…" she said, her eyes lighting up, she clearly adored Quidditch.

"I'm pretty sure you will be." Hermione spoke up abruptly.

"You think so?" she replied looking curious.

"Yup I do…I'm not sure why, I just have a feeling." Hermione answered, smiling and reaching to pick up the pitcher of juice, just as Harry did. Their hands touched for a slight second, but they pulled away as if they'd been shocked. Harry looked at her strangely, as she looked around herself awkwardly.

"Er…you take it first." He said, not looking at anyone, and picking at his scrambled eggs with his fork.

Hermione's face was flushed as she poured herself a glass, and Ron spoke up, "What on earth is going on between you two?!" he asked loudly, and they both their heads shot up.

"Nothing" they both said at the same time.

Ginny, Kate and Seamus smirked as Ron frowned, "I don't think its n…" he started looking a bit angry, but Mrs. Weasley had just come flouncing up to them.

"Time to go!" 

Ron stopped talking, and was quickly distracted as he heard Ginny talking about how excited she was to see Dean again.

"Bloody Hell Ginny! You only saw him yesterday!" he said angrily, but she simply ignored him, and walked off with Hermione, who smiled at Harry over her shoulder.

Harry smiled back, but it faltered as Ron looked at him, "What?" he said innocently.

Ron looked at him suspiciously, "Nothing…" he said, walking ahead, and Harry rolled his eyes at Seamus and Kate, who were behind him.

By the time they were all gathered together outside, the Knight Bus had already showed up.

"Mr. Weasley and I will pick you 6 up in three hours all right?" she told the group, and they nodded.

Ron started towards the steps but Harry held him back, "Ladies first, Ron" he said jokingly, gesturing for Hermione, Ginny and Kate to get on the bus.

Ron looked at him as if he had three heads, while the girls giggled, "You're so cute Harry" Kate said, as she walked past him up the steps. Seamus snorted, and followed his girlfriend, with a laughing Ron and Harry behind him.

"I don't know why I always look forward to that" Seamus said as they walked out of the last shop in Diagon Alley. "It's never any fun."

They'd just finished buying all their books and supplies, and Dean had joined them.

"It was fun to see Kate get her wand though" Hermione said.

They all laughed, "Yes that Mr. Ollivander is definitely very…interesting" Kate said smiling.

"We still have half an hour before mum and dad are coming back to get us." Ginny spoke up as she checked her watch.

"What do you want to do?" Harry said, looking around.

"We could just take the Knight bus back early" Hermione suggested.

"Nah, I'm out of money, we might as well wait for my parents" Ron said, after he'd checked his wallet.

"I know something we could do…" Kate started.

"What?" Ron asked curiously.

"We could play hide and go seek" she said shrugging, "I know it's kind of childish but it's usually pretty fun".

Dean laughed again, "It is actually, I play it all the time with my little cousins"

"What exactly is it?" Ron asked.

"You don't know what hide and go seek is?!" Kate asked incredulously.

"Er…I don't think so" he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. 

Harry laughed, "Yes you do Ron, we played it once over at your house…remember? We hid from you and you had to look around the house to find us." he explained.

"Oh yeah!!" Ginny said suddenly, apparently she hadn't remembered either "That was so fun!"

Ron nodded, "Yeah it was…except when you scared the living daylights out of me, when I found you!" he said to Harry, and he and Hermione laughed.

"You should've seen your face!" Harry said chuckling.

Hermione grinned, "Priceless" she added. 

"Well I say we play then!" Seamus said, smiling at Kate, "Good idea"

She smiled at him happily, "Thanks…so who's going to be it?"

Ginny and Dean were holding hands and looked like they had planned on hiding as a pair. Kate and Seamus stood in a similar fashion and they'd both chorused, "Not it!" before anyone could say anything.

"Erm…" Harry muttered, standing closer to Hermione, hoping Ron would volunteer.

"Oh fine, I'll be it" Ron said, rolling his eyes.

Kate grinned, "Thanks Ron, you're a good sport" she said, "Count to…100"

Ron nodded, "Ah well, it'll be fun as long as the lot of your promise not to freak me out again"

Harry and Hermione laughed together, "We promised Ron, we won't"

"Good…all right I guess the boundaries will be from the Leaky Cauldron…er…to that shop" he said pointing to a small used book store half way down the street. They all spoke their agreement, and ran off together the moment Ron covered his eyes and started to count.

Dean and Ginny disappeared into the Magical Menagerie, as Kate and Seamus flew into Fortescue's. Harry and Hermione ran down the street together, looking around for a place to hide.

"How bout in there?" Hermione said, gesturing towards Flourish and Blotts.

"Yeah all right" Harry said quickly, "Hurry" 

They bolted through the door, quickly moving to stand behind a book case near the back of the store.

"You know, I'm not too sure this is a very good place to hide Harry" Hermione said quietly.

"Well Ron can't be done already can he?"

Apparently he could. Harry cursed as he saw Ron, Dean and Ginny come through the front door, "Shit" he muttered.

Hermione laughed at how seriously he seemed to be taking it, but looked around for a place to hide all the same.

"In here!" she whispered quickly, as she pulled Harry into what had appeared to be a closet. 

Well it wasn't exactly a closet; it was more like an extremely small space in which nothing could possibly fit. Harry closed the door, and realized that this was going to be rather awkward, he tried to put more distance between himself and Hermione, but it wasn't working out too well. To make things worse, it was absolutely pitch black.   

Hermione swore under her breath and he started to laugh quietly at the predicament they were in. Clearly she wasn't amused as he felt her hand cover his mouth. He shut up immediately.

"There has to be a bloody light in here" she muttered, feeling around. She felt a chain hanging from the ceiling and pulled it hopefully, but unfortunately it appeared to be covered in filth and they couldn't see much more of what they could before. Harry looked down at her, and could just partly see her face.

"That worked well" Harry said laughing.

Hermione couldn't help but smiled at the ridiculous situation, but she was starting to feel worried about what she might do, being so close to Harry like this.

"Well this is just great isn't it" she said quietly.

"Could be worse." Harry said, feeling the familiar feeling swoop over him. He was quickly becoming delirious and felt rather light headed, he couldn't think of anything else except what he wanted to do to Hermione at that very moment. He couldn't care less what Ron, or anyone would think if they barged in on them snogging. He had a sort of mad urge to kiss her, to touch her…anything. He couldn't resist it, and every logical thought in his mind drifted away as he looked at her.

Hermione smiled to herself as she felt the butterflies in her stomach, wanting to believe that Harry was feeling the same.

She looked up at him to answer but was startled as she saw the look in Harry's eyes. It wasn't the usual friendly, smiling look that normally resided in those dazzling emerald eyes when he looked at her…there was something else. Though she could hardly see, it was clear that his eyes were filled with such an intense look of desire that she gasped. She desperately wanted to say something but found herself becoming breathless as she felt one of Harry's strong arms wrap around her small waist, bringing her even closer towards his body, his eyes never leaving hers. 

This had to be a dream, it couldn't possibly be happening…he was leaning in…and so was she!! What the hell was she doing? '_He's your friend Hermione, stop it!_'

But Hermione pushed every opposing thought out of her mind as she closed her eyes and found that she wanted it just as badly as he appeared to. When had this happened? Why was she doing this…why was HE doing this?! It was like some irresistible force was driving her towards him…she felt her knees go weak as Harry's lips hovered over hers…she was trembling.

Suddenly the door burst open, Hermione yelped in surprise and they jumped apart, hitting their heads hard on the wall. Harry swore loudly, rubbing the back of his head and Hermione flushed to the roots of her hair. Ron grinned happily at finding them, stupidly unaware of what he'd almost walked in on. But Ginny had a mischievous look on her face, and Dean was half smirking, looking like he was trying not to laugh.

"Found ya!!" Ron yelled happily. 

Harry glanced at Hermione, and found that the feeling had not vanished. He would've kissed her right there, in front of everyone, but Ginny had spoken up, "So are you two going to stay in there all day looking at each other?" she said, her eyes filled with laughter, "Or can we actually go find Kate and Seamus?"

Harry glared at her, and helped a still blushing Hermione squeeze out of the tiny space, feeling tingly all over as he touched her, his face feeling very hot. 

"Okay, let's go find the other two!" Ron said, grinning, completely oblivious to Dean and Ginny's smirks, and Harry and Hermione's awkward glances. They all followed him, Dean and Ginny muttering to each other, grinning and occasionally throwing looks at Harry and Hermione.

Harry still couldn't help himself; he kept glancing at Hermione, unable to keep his eyes off her. But whenever he did this, she seemed to be looking at him as well, and they'd both turn away immediately.

Ginny looked back at them once when they did this and rolled her eyes, "Er, hold up guys I have to go to the loo, Hermione you coming?" she told rather than asked as she looked at her pointedly, but Hermione wouldn't have it.

"No thanks Gin, I'm fine" she said, knowing what Ginny would surely be talking about if she went with her.

"Hermione" she said again, giving her a look, "Please?"

Hermione knew what she was doing; and she was probably going to be angry with her if she didn't go. She sighed and gave in, following a now smiling Ginny down the road towards the Leaky Cauldron, leaving the boys behind to find Kate and Seamus.

They walked in silence, Hermione desperately wanting to turn back. They reached the pub, and Hermione was quickly pulled to sit down at the nearest table.

"Okay Hermione, tell me everything, and don't leave a single thing out" Ginny said grinning.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Nothing happened Ginny! We were just hiding." She said, knowing it wasn't exactly the whole truth.

So, it seemed, did Ginny. "Don't lie" she said simply, smirking.

Hermione sighed, "I don't really know what happened Ginny…" she said, putting her head in her hands.

The excited red head's expression changed, as she looked sort of sympathetically at her. "Just explain it to me, and then we can figure out what it all meant" She said softly.

Hermione looked up at her eager friend, "Well, we were hiding from Ron in Flourish and Blotts, right? And then we saw the three of you coming in…so I dragged Harry into what I thought was a closet." She said, laughing lightly along with Ginny. "There was barely any light, and we were so close together…I just started feeling like I…I don't know Ginny, I couldn't think straight" She said quietly.

Ginny opened her mouth to say something, but Hermione kept going.

 "…I couldn't believe it Gin! You should've seen the way he was looking at me…like he was desperate to just…" she flushed pink, "I can't describe it, he's never looked at me that way…but before I knew it his arm was around my waist, and I felt like I didn't even care what happened, it didn't matter why he was doing it…"

Ginny was looked her, extremely interested, and urged her to go on. "He was going to kiss me and I knew it…but I wasn't stopping it Gin! I wanted it to happen…I really did." she was staring at the salt shaker, imagining it was Harry. "Of course you're stupid brother had to come in then. Although, I'm half glad he did, things would be so complicated if we got involved like that…" she sighed looking rather disappointed.

"Well that's settles it Hermione, you two want to be with each other obviously so why don't you do it?" she said, a smile upon her face.

Hermione looked at her incredulously, "He's my best friend Gin!"

Ginny smiled, "Those are the best type of relationships 'Mione" she said wisely.

"Yeah, but…Ginny that can't happen…I mean I don't even know how he feels…there could be plenty of other reasons to kiss me" even as she said it she thought it was a bit ridiculous.

Unfortunately, right when Ginny was about to speak again, Ron, Dean, Seamus, Kate and Harry came through the back door.

"Hey girls, we found them!!" Ron said grinning. Ginny looked annoyed at being interrupted, while Hermione glared at him.

"Merlin Ron!! You have the worst timing!" she shouted, but couldn't help glance at Harry as she said this. He looked at the ground, smiling, his hands in his pockets. She almost let out a grin herself, but felt like being annoyed with Ron, so she stalked off to the washroom instead. Ginny quickly followed her, grinning mischievously at Harry.

Ron looked at both of them strangely, "Girls" he muttered.

 I'm evil I know, you probably all want to kill me because they were sooo close and then they didn't do it!! I really wanted them to kiss too actually, but I can't let them yet! It'd ruin my plans for the story… so hope you liked it please review! The song at the beginning is "Breathless" by The Corrs.


	10. Complicated

Meet You There

Chapter 10 - Complicated

This morning, I woke up with this feeling  
I didn't know how to deal with  
And so I just decided to myself  
I'd hide it to myself  
And never talk about it  
And did not go and shout it  
When you walked into the room .....  
I think I love you

"Oh bloody hell…" was the first thing to come out of Harry's mouth as he woke up. He'd been having a dream about Hermione again…but it wasn't just them kissing or anything like that…they had children, they were a family…and the worse thing was how happy and complete Harry had felt watching two mini-versions of himself and Hermione running around. It had felt perfect.

Harry groaned as he came to the dreadful conclusion. "I love her?!" Harry asked himself, although he knew it was true, he'd probably known for a long time, he'd just always pushed his real feelings down and covered them with his stupid childish crush on Cho.

"I do love her…bloody hell" he closed his eyes and put his hands over his face.

"_Why!? Why did this have to happen to me!! Why do I want what I can't get…" _he thought to himself.

As he thought of all that had happened since he'd met her, he didn't understand why he'd never noticed.

She'd always been there for him, when ever he was stressed out or upset about something, there she was to make him feel better. Hermione was the best friend he could ever ask for, other than Ron of course…but he didn't want to be just her friend anymore.

He knew he couldn't have her though…that was just too complicated. Ron liked her, he made that more and more obvious every year, and if he, Harry, ever got involved with her like that, it'd be violating the best friend code big time.

He didn't have long to dwell on this however, as he saw the beautiful subject of his thoughts open his door cautiously. Her wavy brown hair was up in a high ponytail, her make up was very natural, and she was wearing a simple, but fitted white sweatshirt with a pair of dark jeans…in Harry eyes, the simplicity of her was gorgeous.

Harry sat up, suddenly slightly nervous in front of her, they hadn't spoken since the closet incident yesterday…and now that he realized he loved her, he was absolutely clueless on how to act.

Apparently she felt the same, "Breakfast is ready if you want it Harry" she said rather awkwardly, avoiding his eyes as she quickly left the room, shutting the door carefully behind her.

But Harry jumped up, pulling on the closet shirt to him he found, and ran down the hall after her, "Hermione, wait up!" he yelled and she stopped, looking up at his tall frame reluctantly.

"I just wanted to apologize for yesterday Mione" he said quietly, leaving a rather surprised look on her face. "I just…erm I don't know what I was thinking…" Well that was a lie… "I guess I was just…caught up in the moment, or something. I honestly have no idea why I would want to kiss my best friend." He said forcing a laugh.

It was killing him to say this when all he really wanted to do was continue from where they'd left off yesterday. As he looked down at her cautiously, he could've sworn there was a look of disappointment and hurt on her face but she quickly forced a smile.

She nodded with her fake smile in place, "Yes, so was I…it didn't really mean anything…" she laughed nervously, but she saw with a bit of a shock that his reaction mirrored hers from before as he tried to smile humouredly.

Was he lying? Had he actually wanted to kiss her for a reason? He shook his head as if answering her silent questions, but he looked at the ground so she couldn't see the emotions in his eyes, knowing they'd give him away.

"You're right …let's just, forget it" Harry forced the words out, though he didn't know why he was doing it. It wasn't possible for him to forget it.

Hermione smiled falsely again, "Sure…so we can act normal again now?" she asked laughing, putting out her hand and Harry laughed along with her.

He took her small hand in his, but instead of shaking it he pulled her into a hug. Hermione grinned into his shoulder, and they both sighed contently at being in each other's arms, savouring the rare moment. After they pulled away Harry's feelings were torn, he was happy that they were acting like friends again, but he couldn't help feeling a lost, empty feeling inside him. Probably because he knew they could never be more than just that.

"You know what Ron; I think we should wake up the girls this morning don't you?"

Ron smirked at his best friend, "That's a good idea you've got there Potter"

Harry laughed, it was finally September the 1st and they would be going back to Hogwarts in a few hours. The past week, after Kate and Seamus had gone home, Hermione and Ginny had been waking the two boys up at all sorts of ungodly hours in the morning.

Today, however, Harry and Ron had appeared to have woken up earlier than the others. "I say we throw water on them" Ron said mischievously.

"Nah…that's too predictable" Harry replied, as he pulled his blue sweatshirt over himself, which went rather well with his blue and white pyjama bottoms.

"We need something more original, let's just do whatever comes to mind when we get in there" he said, looking over at Ron who had his black pyjamas bottoms on with a dark green shirt.

"All right, ready?" Ron asked, grinning evilly.

"I can't wait" Harry responded with a smirk, following Ron out the door, and up a short flight of steps to the girl's room.

"Okay, you take Ginny, I'll take Hermione" Harry whispered, as they opened the door.

"Why do you get Hermione?" Ron asked in a quiet voice, but not bothering to cover up his annoyance.

"Because you know how to wake Ginny up, I have no idea" he said simply, as he walked over to Hermione's bed.

"Okay, so how are you going to do it?" Ron asked quietly as he sauntered over to his sister.

Harry grinned at him; "Do you know who blink 182 is?" he asked trying to keep his voice down, as not to wake them up too early.

Ron gave him an odd look, as if he hadn't heard right "Blinky 92? What?"

Harry almost burst out laughing, but he controlled himself as to not disturb the girls.

"Blink 182 Ron, they're a Muggle group Hermione likes, she brought a few cd's with her, and there's a muggle cd player in here"

Ron was looking more and more confused, "What's a…" he started but Harry shut him up before he could say anything else.

"It's just music Ron, now if I play a blink 182 song really loud, she'll be awake in a second, believe me" he said, finding the right cd, and putting it in the cd player.

"It'll wake up Ginny too most likely" he added, laughing quietly.

Ron chuckled as he watched his best friend, "Well my job's done for me then." He said in reply, sitting down carefully on to Ginny's bed.

"You've got to get on her bed and yell at her too though Ron, they did that to me" Harry said, remembering the awful but funny memory as he couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay" Ron got up, and got ready to jump on the bed, "Ready?"

Harry pressed the play button and the music blared out into the room. "Yeah!" he yelled over it and jumped on Hermione's bed.

_In the car I just can't wait  
to pick you up on our very first date  
is it cool if I hold your hand?  
Is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance?  
Do you like my stupid hair?  
Would you guess that I didn't know what to wear?  
I'm just scared of what you think  
you make me nervous so I really can't eat  
  
_

Harry laughed hysterically, as Hermione woke up, looking extremely startled. She looked up to see him laughing so hard that he fell on top of her on his hands and knees still laughing his head off. Though rather confused and still very sleepy, Hermione couldn't help but laugh too at how funny he looked.

Across the room Ginny, who wasn't exactly a morning person, was trying to yell at Ron to get off but he couldn't hear her over the music, as he just kept laughing at her annoyed face.

_   
  
Let's go  
don't wait  
this nights almost over  
honest, let's make  
this night last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
****_

"Time to wake up Mione!" Harry managed in between his roars of laughter, and stood up on the bed bringing her up with him. Hermione grinned at him and was now laughing with glee, as he began to sing along to the song.

_When you smile, I melt inside  
I'm not worthy for a minute of your time  
I really wish it was only me and you  
I'm jealous of everybody in the room  
please don't look at me with those eyes  
please don't hint that you're capable of lies  
I dread the thought of our very first kiss  
a target that I'm probably gonna miss  
  
_

Ginny was now ignoring Ron, who had collapsed on the bed laughing to himself, seemingly thinking her bad mood was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. She was watching Harry and Hermione, which to her had to be the cutest thing she'd seen all week.

Harry had started singing the second verse to her, and she had joined in too clearly loving the fact that he knew the words. Ginny watched the emotions on Harry's face carefully, and was pleasantly surprised to see the pure happiness shining in his eyes as he danced around with Hermione. He looked happier then she'd seen him look in a long time as he gazed down at her, the grin never leaving his face.

Ginny smiled happily to herself as she saw this; to her it was obvious how he felt about her, and she definitely didn't believe Harry's 'caught up in the moment' excuse that Hermione had told her about earlier.

The song ended, but Harry and Hermione didn't seem to notice as a new one came on, and they continued to dance around on the bed stupidly holding each other's hands so they wouldn't fall off.

Ginny looked at her brother, amazingly he was still rolling around on the bed laughing. Suddenly she felt a horrible nauseous feeling in her stomach…he still liked Hermione.

"Bloody hell…" thought Ginny, "…how's he going to react when he finds out Harry's his competition?"

She didn't have much time to dwell on this however, as the door to their room slammed open, and Mrs. Weasley came storming in looking very angry. Ginny looked over at Harry and Hermione, and saw that they were completely oblivious to the new arrival, still singing loudly and dancing around on the bed.

"WILL YOU TURN THAT BLOODY RACKET OFF!"

That got their attention. The two stopped dancing, whipping around look fearfully at Mrs. Weasley as Harry quickly jumped down off the bed, and pressed the stop button.

He turned to look at Ron's mum sheepishly, "I'm really sorry Mrs. Weasley, did we wake you?" he asked, although he knew it was a stupid question.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK, POTTER?!" she yelled sarcastically, and Harry winced. She'd never yelled at him before, and she'd most certainly never called him 'Potter' either.

"Honestly Mrs. Weasley I'm sorry, I guess I didn't realize other people were still sleeping" he said, backing away from her a bit, until he knocked into Hermione, and she let out a small squeal of pain as he trod on her foot.

Harry whipped around quickly, "Merlin I'm sorry Mione, are you all right?!" he asked concerned, completely ignoring Mrs. Weasley.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

Harry winced again at the use of his full name and turned to face her. "Sorry" he muttered, and Ginny snickered.

"WHAT IS SO FUNNY VIRGINIA?"

Ginny cringed at the name she despised. "Sorry mum" she said quickly, working hard to keep her face straight.

"I was up late last night, and I got hardly any sleep, why on earth did you have this music blasting at 7 o' clock in the morning?!" Mrs. Weasley asked looking scarily furious.

"Erm…we were just…waking the girls up…" Harry answered, feeling extremely stupid for not thinking about the other people in the house.

"WAKING UP THE GIRLS? And there was no other way of doing that!" she asked, looking incredulously at him.

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Ron stepped up nervously.

"Mum, it's not just Harry's fault, I helped too..." he said trying to take some of the heat off of Harry.

"I don't care who did it! I'm ashamed with the lot of you!" she answered, looking disapprovingly at them. "Now that you're all up you might as well start packing, and get ready to leave." She finished shooting them one last furious look as she left the room.

They all let out a deep breath, and Harry looked at them guiltily. "Sorry, that was completely my fault" he said immediately, but Ron shook his head.

"It's my fault too Harry" he said sighing.

"No it isn't, I was the one who thought of it" he replied, but Ron wouldn't have it.

"Well I should've stopped you then, I agreed with it!"

Harry was opened his mouth answer back but Ginny stopped them, "Who cares whose fault it is all right? She'll get over it" she said shrugging, making Harry swallowed his words.

"I suppose we should go pack then" Ron said to Harry, and he nodded in agreement.

The moment they left, Ginny closed the door and turned to Hermione grinning devilishly.

"What are you so happy about?" Hermione asked laughing. Although she had to admit, she was in a rather good mood too.

"Harry's in love with you" Ginny said simply, letting her words sink in as she sat down on her own bed smirking.

Hermione looked at the red head as if she'd gone nuts. "You're mad Gin" she said, laughing and turned back to her bed to make it up.

But Ginny wouldn't let it go, "Hermione look at me" she said.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and looked at her friend. "Harry – Loves – You" she said pronouncing each word carefully, making Hermione shake her head with laughter.

"Honestly Ginny, he thinks of me as nothing more than a friend all right? That almost-kiss didn't mean anything I already told you what he said" she responded firmly, although she half looked like she didn't want to believe her own words.

"Hermione come on!" Ginny whined, "He _does _love you, I swear! I was watching the two of you before, and it was so bloody obvious!"

Hermione was fluffing her pillows, not looking at her friend but Ginny knew she was listening intently.

"If I'm going to be honest it looked like you feel the same way" she added smirking, as her friend turned to face her, arms crossed over her chest.

"Listen up Ginny okay; I'm only going to say it once. Harry is NOT in love with me!! And I…I don't love him either" she said, very unconvincingly, "…we're best friends, and what would Ron think anyway? It just can't happen…" she finished, looking almost miserably at her freshly made bed.

Ginny looked at her sadly, "Ron would just have to get used to it…why can't it happen Hermione, why are you so determined to hide your feelings?" she asked quietly, knowing Hermione was making a big mistake.

"It would just be too complicated Ginny" Hermione responded sighing, "It doesn't matter because I don't like him like that…let's just drop it okay?" She dropped to her knees, pulled out her trunk from under the bed and started to pack wordlessly. Ginny sighed in defeat, and followed suit.

For the first time anyone could remember, the kids were ready to go before the adults.

"HEY YOU LOT! HURRY UP! We're going be late!" Ron yelled down the stairs to the kitchen and turning around to grin at the others, "It feels great to be the one saying that, rather than hearing it" he said happily and everyone laughed, just as Mr. and Mrs Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, and Mundungus came up the stairs looking very solemn.

"All right, let's get going" Mr. Weasley said, picking up Ginny's heavy trunk. "Good god Gin, what've you got in here?!" he said, heaving it out the door.

Ginny simply laughed, "I'm a girl dad…so how are we getting there?" she asked, as she and the rest followed Mr. Weasley. He didn't need to respond, as they all saw two large ministry cars waiting for them outside.

"This is only a small part of what the Ministry's doing to apologize for their…lack of faith in us" Lupin said smirking, but Harry winced at his statement. Every time he heard the word 'ministry' it reminded him forcefully of the incident in June, if they hadn't had that stupid veil down in the Department of Mysteries, Sirius would still be here.

"_Don't think about that Harry"_ he thought, mentally hitting himself. Luckily he was quickly distracted as Mr. Weasley told him to put his trunk into the back of the car.

As they drove up to the entrance of King's Cross, Ginny beamed happily out the window.

"Dean's already here waiting for me! He's so cute!"

Ron rolled his eyes as Harry and Hermione laughed at his antics. Ginny tore out of the car to go meet Dean with Ron running after her yelling, "I'm not carrying that trunk for you Ginny, you better get back here!"

Harry chuckled as he got out of the car, and held out his hand almost reflexively to help Hermione up.

She smiled at him, as she stepped gracefully onto the sidewalk, looking like she was trying not to laugh.

"What?" he asked her curiously, as he took their trunks from the back of the car.

"You're such a gentlemen Harry, it's cute. I just can't see where you got it from, certainly not your Uncle" she answered laughing.

Harry laughed awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"I can answer that for you" came Lupin's voice from behind them, as he got out of the other car.

"James" he said, "Such a charmer to the ladies…but very gentleman like with Lily, especially since he had to work rather hard to win her over" he said, smiling fondly at the boy in front of him, who was now almost the same height as the aging professor.

"You're so much like him, it's baffling Harry" he said, and Harry grinned. He couldn't help but enjoy it when people told him that…even after what he'd seen in the pensieve.

Ron came back to the car looking disgruntled and rather fidgety as Ginny, Dean, Kate and Seamus trailed behind him.

"Look who we found!" Ginny said happily, everyone greeting the two new arrivals before Mr. Weasley butted in.

"All right, let's get a move on" he said, loading the trunks on to a couple of trolleys.

As they all embarked onto the platform, they quickly ran through the barrier in pairs and even after all these years, Harry still marvelled at how not a single muggle ever noticed. In minutes, they were all through, looking around the platform in interest, seeing how so many of the students had changed over the summer.

"Merlin! Who do you think that is Hermione?" Ginny said almost excitedly, pointing to an extremely good looking 16 year old boy, with white blond hair that was spiked up, like many boys seemed to have their hair lately.

Hermione studied him for a moment, and watched him smirk and then laugh at something Goyle had said to him…the evil smirk, and sneering face looking awfully familiar. "I don't believe it, it's Malfoy!" she exclaimed loudly, blushing as a few people turned to look at her oddly.

Harry and Ron whipped around, "What's he done now?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"I don't know but it sure as hell looks good on him" Hermione said eying Malfoy's new look.

"HERMIONE!!" the boys shouted angrily at the same time, and Ginny giggled.

"Well it's true, look at him! He looks like a bloody god!" She said, practically drooling as she watched Malfoy saying something sarcastic to Pansy Parkinson.

"Ginny!" Dean said indignantly and the two girls laughed, while the boys looked disgusted.

"Shame he's such a git" Hermione and Ginny said together, laughing uproariously.

Ginny turned to Harry, "Then again…you're not so bad your self there Harry, and at least you're a decent fellow" she said looking him up and down. Harry looked at her in embarrassment as she gave him a once over.

"In fact…" she patted his stomach and smirked at the rather hard surface beneath his shirt. "…nice abs, great eyes, overall really good looking face, and…" she gestured for him to turn around, and he did so chuckling to hid his embarrassment, feeling rather like a zoo animal and he rolled his eyes at Ron, Dean and Seamus. "…and a very nice ass as well, good job Potter" she finished clapping. Harry's cheeks tinged pink as Hermione smiled at him, and Ron and Seamus roared with laughter. Dean didn't look too happy, but he kept quiet.

"I'm still not a god like Malfoy though eh?" he managed to joke through his embarrassment and everyone laughed along with him.

Ginny looked thoughtfully over at the flaxen haired Slytherin again, "You know what, I think you may actually be hotter than Malfoy" Ginny said appreciatively, and looked over to Hermione.

"What do you think Mione?" she asked smirking, knowing perfectly well what she thought.

Harry looked at Hermione quickly, flashing her a charming grin that his father had been famous for. She blushed sweetly as the others laughed. "I'd have to say Harry's hotter" she answered.

Harry raised his arms in pretense of victory as the group laughed again at his antics.

"I don't think we're the only ones who think that either." Ginny said, looking around the platform. "There seems to be an awful lot of people looking over here"

Sure enough, as Harry looked over his shoulder many girls turned around and started to giggle and blush. They were all talking to each other excitedly, making it clearly obvious who they had been talking about. "They're probably just like the fact that I'm Harry Potter" he said rolling his eyes.

"What's with all the guys though?" Ron asked stupidly, as many boys had been looking over at the group too...and still were.

Dean laughed, while Harry rolled his eyes, and looked at Hermione who was wearing a modest, but flattering jean skirt, with a white halter top and a pair of pink flip flops, her hair in silky neat waves falling down her back.

"Isn't it obvious Ron?" Seamus said, gesturing to the girls who laughed, "We're with some very good looking girls here"

"I'd definitely have to agree with you there" Harry said, glancing at Hermione.

"Right..." Ron said looking at Harry oddly. "What time is it mate?" he asked, but was answered when Mrs. Weasley came up from behind them.

"Time to go!" she said, giving them all quick hugs, "You've got ten minutes to get this lot onto the train!" she said, gesturing to their luggage as she finished her hugs, and pushed them towards the Hogwarts Express..

Harry said bye to the adults one last time, grabbing his trunk and heaving it onto the train, with Seamus and Kate in front of him, and the rest behind. They walked down the corridor, easily finding an empty compartment, but just as they were putting all their things away Hermione gasped.

Harry turned around to find her looking out the window, with her hand over her mouth.

"What's wrong Hermione?" Kate asked.

She turned around to look Harry, "My…dad is here" she said to him quietly, and Harry's eyes widened as he looked out the window too.

Sure enough, Mr. Granger was standing on the platform, looking quite out of place as his eyes wandered around like a lost child.

"Maybe you should go talk to him" Harry suggested gently.

Hermione looked at him stubbornly, "Don't you remember what he said about me? About S…Padfoot…"she said looking slightly angry for a moment.

Harry sighed, "Yes I do remember Hermione, but he's loved you and cared for you all his life, don't you think he probably feels terrible about it?" he asked her.

By the look on her face, she knew he was right. Hermione nodded, "You're right Harry, I'll…I'll go talk to him" she said sighing and reluctantly leaving through the sliding doors.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked as soon as she'd left.

"You're going to have to ask her Ron, sorry" Harry said lightly, "I would tell you but I don't know if she'd want me to" he added as he walked over to the window to watch as Hermione found her dad.

Ron followed and looked rather surprised to see Mr. Granger crying while he was talking to Hermione. When he'd started off she was looking rather coolly at him, but it was easy to see she'd slowly melted as she pulled her father into a hug.

Harry smiled at the sight and was about to sit back down, when a good looking, familiar boy appeared, and started talking to her animatedly. "Who's that?" Harry and Ron said at the same time, as Hermione started to laugh at the 6th year Ravenclaw,

"Terry Boot" Dean said, smirking, at the jealousy in both boys eyes.

"He was in the DA wasn't he?" Harry said, unnecessarily, trying to ignore the feeling in his stomach at seeing Hermione smile at Terry.

"Yeah he was, he helped you curse Malfoy at the end of last year too" Seamus said laughing at the similar look in the two friends eyes.

Harry turned away from the window, as he couldn't take it anymore, both he and Ron grumbling to themselves. Ron looked at his watch and saw with a jolt that it was a minute to 11.

"Merlin's beard, she's going miss the train if she doesn't stop messing around with Boot" he said, clearly just as ticked off as Harry. The whole group laughed, as they both opened the window and Harry yelled out of it, "Hey Boot!! Do you think you could stop flirting for one second to realize what time it is?!" Ron laughed at Harry's comment, enjoying the look on Terry's face.

Terry looked at the two of them oddly, then at his watch and his eyes widened as steam started to billow from the train. He quickly took Hermione's hand and ran towards their compartment, Ron scowling as he opened the door for the pair.

"Of course she's just so helpless that he has to hold her hand so she can get on to the train, bloody git" he muttered sarcastically to Harry, as they both sat down laughing rather cruelly.

Terry closed the doors, and sat down to the left of Hermione who had Harry to her right, Ron next to Harry, with the two couples across from them.

There was a rather awkward silence for a few seconds before Seamus broke it, "So Terry, how was your summer?"

As Terry started to talk, and Hermione laughed good naturedly at his jokes Harry thought miserably to him self that this year might be a lot different then he had hoped it would be. And as he glanced at the look on Ron's face, apparently he wasn't the only one bothered by the situation.

Hope you liked that chapter, and please don't forget to review. The song at the beginning is called 'I think I love you' by David Cassidy and the quote "Why do I want what I can't get" is from a song by my favorite band, which is quite obvious by now, blink 182 called 'Wendy Clear' and of course the blatant use of a blink song in the middle of the story is their song 'First Date' and just so you know I'm not one of those people who only likes there new songs or anything, I just use them because they're the ones that the readers probably know best…haha okay so there's all the disclaimers…review!


	11. Think Twice

Okay people I happened to get a lot of complaints about Terry and how you want Harry and Hermione to get together…so here are the answers to all the possible questions you guys asked…..Please Read This!!

One -- I know you all hate Terry now but he is just there to make things complicated so the story is more interesting…he wont be there for long don't worry

Two - This fic is under the H/Hr category on the site, which means it's a Harry and Hermione story NOT Terry and Hermione…so in the end they WILL get together so don't worry!! No matter how many people Harry or Hermione might go out with, it's only because they don't want to face the fact that they love each other. Or because they just want to make the other one jealous…its stupid I know but that's what love can do to you ;)

Three - A lot of people seemed upset that Hermione was flirting with Terry…I know she likes/loves Harry but she's confused!! She doesn't understand how she can like Harry and she's positive he doesn't love her back like that!! So she flirts with Terry because she thinks she doesn't have a chance with Harry. She'll explain it herself to Ginny in the next chapter anyways…

Four - A lot of you also seem worried about Ron…don't worry he'll have someone, I wouldn't just leave him hanging…and he will get over his jealousy too.

Five - Another one of you said something about there's too much jealousy from Harry and none from Hermione…that will be fixed!

**This Chapter is dedicated to Chilkroete because it is her birthday sometime around now!!! Haha you didn't tell me what day it was hun so I couldn't say!! AND I don't know your name so I called you by your reviewer name!! Lol so yeah, it's your birthday so here's your present, and sorry if it's late!! Because it most likely is!**

Meet You There

Chapter Eleven – Think Twice

Think twice before you touch my girl

Come around I'll let you feel the burn

Think twice before you touch my girl

Come around, come around …no more

She spreads her love

She burns me up

I can't let go

I can't get out…

Think twice before you touch my girl…

Ginny checked her watch impatiently and looked out the now misty window, desperately wanting to escape from the tightly packed compartment. She looked over to Hermione, she appeared to be forcing a laugh at something Terry had just said, but clearly her grin didn't quite reach her eyes like it always did whenever Harry said something funny…scratch that, he could say anything and her eyes would light up.

Ginny  watched her, feeling quite frustrated…she knew perfectly well that Hermione was just running away from her own feelings, and as she looked over to Harry she realized how much that one action was hurting him. Seeing that he was looking so thoroughly miserable as he pretended to listen to Ron, she decided Hermione badly needed a talking to.

Ginny cleared her throat, looking pointedly at Hermione, "Can I talk to you for sec?" she asked, looking at her in a way that made Hermione not want to know what would happen if she didn't accept.

"Sure" she replied, as she stood up, Ginny grabbing her hand and walking into the corridor.

Ginny put her ear against the door to make sure everyone was still talking inside. Satisfied, she turned to Hermione.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in there?" she asked, not meaning to sound so harsh but she couldn't help it. Hermione was hurting both Harry and her brother at the same time without even realizing it. 

Hermione was about to say something, looking slightly offended but Ginny continued. "What is with you and Terry? I thought you liked Harry?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but it looked to Ginny like once again she was trying to cover up what she really felt "I'm just moving on Gin…that's all…I have to." She said sighing, "I don't have a chance with Harry and I never will, so I might as well flirt with Terry. What's the problem in that?"

Hermione looked like she didn't even believe her self, in fact she looked quite disgusted with how she was acting…but she wasn't about to say anything about it.

Ginny looked at her a bit disappointed. "The problem is that you're only kidding yourself Hermione." She said softly, "You're trying to convince yourself that you have feelings for Terry…which, if I'm honest, it's obvious you don't…"

Hermione scowled as she blushed slightly.

"…so you don't have to face the fact that you're in love with your best friend."

Hermione looked at the ground, "I've told you this Ginny…I am _not_ in love with him" she said some what firmly, though she was avoiding her friends eyes purposely.

Ginny shook her head, "Whatever Mione, but I hope you know you're not just hurting yourself" she said as Hermione looked back up at her.

"What do you mean…" she said curiously.

"Seeing you mess around with Terry is making Harry miserable Hermione! And he's definitely not the only one, Ron looks like he's about to strangle Boot" she explained, looking terribly frustrated.

"Well there you go Gin, you basically just proved why it's impossible for me and Harry to have that sort of relationship! Ron would be horrified!" Hermione retorted looking somewhat relieved she'd finally made a relevant point.

Ginny sighed deeply, "Listen Hermione, I know Ron would be a little awkward at first, but we can work it out! He'd get over it, believe me!" She said desperately, "You've got to take the chance when it's presented to you Mione, this could be the greatest thing that ever happens to you!"

Inside the compartment, Harry's chocolate frog had escaped and started bounding towards the door. He swore under his breath and everyone laughed as he jumped after it and quickly caught it in his hands. The other looked away and continued chatting, Ron grumbling to himself in the corner shooting glares at Terry. Harry was about to get up to sit back down when he heard some one outside say his name.

"It's not going to happen with Harry okay? He's one of my best friends…I-I'm better off going for someone like Terry. I don't…I CAN'T love Harry like that!"

Harry went very still, feeling his heart shatter at Hermione's words, as a large lump rose in his throat. He was simply so stunned and terribly disappointed that he didn't even register the fact that her voice sounded very shaky, as if she was trying immensely hard to make herself sound believable. Harry had always known there was a great chance of Hermione not returning his feelings but to hear it just seemed so much more devastating than thinking it.

Unfortunately, Kate had just said something funny, and Hermione's next and extremely important words were drowned out by laughter. 

"So why do I?"

Hermione had sunk down on to the ground, pulling her knees into her chest and covered her face with her hands. 

Ginny smiled sadly at her, "You can't always choose who you fall in love with Hermione" she said softly, as she sat down beside her friend, rubbing her back as she sobbed rather loudly into her hands.

Suddenly, the sliding doors of their compartment opened, and Harry stuck his head out. Although his heart was breaking because of her, he couldn't help but see what had happened, why would she suddenly be crying after her and Ginny's conversation. Shouldn't he be the one that's upset?

"What's wrong?" he asked concerned, kneeling down besides her.

Ginny looked at him with a small smile on her face, but Hermione didn't look up, not wanting him to see her tears.

"Nothing" she said shortly.

"Mione you're crying" he softly, stroking her arm affectionately.

Hermione shuddered violently as he touched her, and both Ginny and Harry looked at her oddly. 

"I'm not helpless Harry, you don't always have to act like the hero and be so bloody worried about me all the time" She snapped.

Harry winced at the harsh tone of her voice, and the 'being the hero' comment. She knew by now that he couldn't stand it when people thought of him like that.

"I'm so sorry for caring about you so much Hermione" he said sarcastically, trying to cover up his hurt with sarcasm as he walked back into the compartment, slamming the doors shut so sharply that they shattered.

"Whoa, calm down mate what's up with you?" They heard Dean say chuckling, before they were repaired with the flick of a wand and most of the sound was blocked out.

Hermione began to sob even harder, as Ginny looked at her horrified.

"What on earth was that?" she asked, looking astounded.

Hermione shook her head and looked up at her with shining brown eyes. "I have no idea! I just didn't want him to know and I just feel so a-angry" she said hiccoughing and looking quite hysterical.

Ginny sighed and rubbed her back soothingly again. "Alright, try to calm down Hermione; it's not good to get so worked up like this. Let's just go get changed, we'll be at school soon…hopefully" 

About 20 minutes of Hermione hiding in the bathroom later, the students were getting drenched as they climbed into the carriages.

Usually hearing Hagrid's shouts for the first years generally cheered Harry up, it was somehow comforting to see him there. But this time it didn't make him feel the least bit better, as he watched Hermione feeling very confused and angry about her actions on the train.

 "What is with all this bloody rain?!" Ron yelled over the noise to Harry. "It was sunny at the station, this morning!"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, not really taking much notice of the rain, as he and Ron climbed into a carriage after Seamus and Kate, purposely avoiding getting into one with Hermione.

Harry sat down by the small window and immediately wished he hadn't as they started to move towards the school…his seat had given him a perfect view of across the lake…where he, Sirius and Hermione had been corned by the Dementors in third year.

He looked away, finding it painful to remember that night, once again regretting his decision to let Pettigrew go. Harry was extremely relieved when the carriage had stopped but unfortunately as he jumped out he saw Terry helping Hermione down and found something flare inside him.

He looked around and spotted a group of girls eyeing him, sauntering over to them feeling disgustingly like Malfoy.

"Evening, Ladies" he said suavely acting completely out of character. They all giggled predictably, answering back excitedly as Harry kept looking behind him, making sure a certain someone could see what he was doing.

Hermione had spotted this, feeling jealousy bubble inside her as she narrowed her eyes at the group of pretty girls flirting with Harry. Not knowing what had made her do it, she reached up to kiss Terry on the cheek as she finished brushing her self off unnecessarily.

"Thanks Terry" she said, trying her best to say it in a sexy voice and feeling rather awkward about it. Apparently it worked. Terry looked flabbergasted that serious, studious Hermione Granger would talk like that. Just as Hermione had planned, Harry had seen this and he was more than a little ticked off.

Acting completely on his frustration, he whispered something into one of the girl's ears and to Hermione's total shock the girl grinned devilishly before Harry pulled her towards him, and started snogging the living daylights out of her in front of everyone.

Hermione's mouth was hanging open, watching the event unfold confirmed her thoughts that Ginny had certainly been wrong; he definitely did _not_love her. But now that she'd realized her feelings, it was tearing her up inside to see him acting like this.

However, unbelievably, Terry seemed even more upset than she was.

"Bloody hell! What the fuck is Potter doing?!" Terry yelled angrily. "That's my sister!!"

Anyone who hadn't been watching already, turned around in shock as Terry pulled Harry off of the petite blonde, and punched him hard in the stomach, completely forgetting about his wand. Many students gasped in horror, including Hermione who ran towards them, yelling frantically for them to stop it.

But Harry had fought back, almost eagerly. It seemed he'd been holding up his anger and jealousy towards Terry all day, and he was finally letting it out.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH MY SISTER, POTTER" Terry roared with a look that would terrify most.

"THEN STAY AWAY FROM HERMIONE YOU SMARMY BASTARD!" Harry yelled back, punching him forcefully in the face and Hermione's eyes widened, 'stay away from Hermione'? What the bloody hell? 

"HARRY! TERRY!! STOP IT PLEASE!!" she screamed over the noise of the cheering Slytherins.

Ron, Dean and Seamus shoved through the sea of people, and tried to break the two apart.

"Alright mates, that's enough, get a hold of yourselves" Seamus said, as he and the other two used all their strength to tear Harry away from Terry, who was now on the ground looking rather bad. He had a cut lip, his nose was bleeding and a black eye seemed to be forming already. 

Miraculously, Harry shook off all three boys quite easily as he glared down at Terry with a loathing in his eyes that was quite terrifying, extremely un-Harry like.

"Think twice about who you're messing around with Boot" he said, his eyes flashing angrily.

The whole crowd, apart from Draco Malfoy who had snorted at the comment, fell into a deep silence as he stalked away with his robes swishing dramatically behind him.

"What on earth was that all about?" Ginny asked, not having seen much of what had been going on.

"I'm not too sure" Dean answered, watching Harry.

"Honestly…sometimes I think Harry should've been in Slytherin" Ron joked quietly to Hermione, but she simply gave him an icy look.

"Oh shut up Ron" she snapped testily, while Terry was helped up off the floor by Michael Corner.

"That's the last time I talk to you" he said, wincing as he touched his bloody lip.

Hermione opened her mouth in outrage at this comment but he'd already turned around swiftly, walking away with his arm around his sister, talking to her sternly.

Suddenly she found Malfoy smirking at her, "What are you looking at?" she spat, feeling irritable.

Malfoy snorted, "Honestly…it's a wonder you're top of the year"

"What are you on about Malfoy" she said acidly, not in the mood to deal with him.

"Merlin Granger, open your eyes will you?" he said, glancing at Harry's darkening form as he disappeared up a flight of stairs.

The flaxen haired Slytherin gave her another unreadable look as he shook his head, walking away with his usual gang of cronies into the great hall. 

Hermione followed him, with the rest of her group behind her as she muttered angrily under her breath, glaring at the back of the silver blonde head.

She soon found her anger and frustration ebbing away, as confusion clouded over her mind.

"What did he mean by that?" she asked Ginny.

"Come on Hermione…" she said exasperatedly. "Harry was jealous, and clearly he got a little carried away"

"Why would he be jealous of Terry?" she asked.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Usually when a guy likes a girl, it's hard to see them flirting with another person" she said in a voice as if she was explaining something to a two year old.

"Ginny, Harry doesn't…"

"I've tried to tell you too many times Hermione; I think I'm just going to have to wait till you figure it out on your own." Ginny said tiredly, walking off to join her fifth year friends.

"Why is everyone acting so strange today?" Hermione muttered, feeling rather confused as to why she couldn't figure out such an apparently easy problem. She was supposed to be one of the smartest witches in Hogwarts, yet she couldn't find out why Harry was acting so odd?

The only response Hermione had gotten from her grumbled words was Seamus shrugging. He was intently watching Kate standing with a large group of timid first years, ready to be sorted.

Very contradictive to her usual behaviour, Hermione didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to the song of the sorting hat, and didn't even notice when Kate was sorted into Gryffindor either. She had rarely noticed a single thing that had happened all night, except for one important fact.

Harry hadn't showed up all evening.

"I…am…such…an…idiot…"  

Harry muttered to himself, hitting the wall of his dorm with each word.

_'What the bloody hell was I thinking!!? Why on earth would I do that, she probably hates me now, dammit!' _he thought angrily to himself.

He roughly shoved on a pair of pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt and got into bed.

However he found himself simply sitting there, feeling miserable with himself and regretting ever of even touching Terry. But that wasn't even the worst thing! He winced as he remembered how he'd kissed that slutty sister of his; and right in front of Hermione just to make her jealous. He couldn't even comprehend why he'd done that; it was completely out of character and he couldn't even come up with a reason why he wanted to make Hermione jealous in the first place.

Harry had a good hour to mull over these depressing thoughts, when he heard the door open.

Thinking it was just the guys coming back from dinner he didn't move from his position, pretending to be asleep as he stared up at the canopy as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Harry?" came a female voice from nearby, causing him to jump.

"_Thank god, it's Hermione"_ Harry thought to himself, as he pulled the curtains open to reveal her slightly angry looking face.

"_Damn...I should've known she'd be mad with me, I acted like a bloody fool" _He thought immediately, disgusted with himself.

Before Hermione had come inside, she'd promised herself she'd stay on track and keep herself angry with him.

But as his face appeared with his hair slightly messier than it usually was, wearing a shirt she herself had given him and looking deeply ashamed of himself, she found her frustrations and annoyances leaving her quickly.

In fact, she simply stood there for a minute looking at him as she forgot completely what she had been about to say. But before she could cover up her awkward silence, Harry spoke up.

"I'm sorry Hermione" he said quietly, looking up at her. "I was completely out of line to do that to Terry…or to his sister"

Hermione winced as the scene popped into her mind.

She sighed at how he'd knocked down her walls of restraint already, and climbed onto his bed.

"It's okay Harry, I…" she started but Harry shook his head, interrupting her.

"No it's not, Mione…I shouldn't of done that, I don't know what came over me" he said softly.

They sat in silence for a couple of seconds, before Harry placed her hands in his making her look up at him in wonder. "I guess I'm not ready to let go of you yet" he said so quietly that she barely heard him, as he gently rubbed her hand, avoiding her eyes.

Hermione smiled warmly, "You don't have to let go of me Harry, I don't want you to" she said softly, and as he looked up he realized once more how much he loved her.

He returned her smile, and pulled her into a comforting hug. Harry closed his eyes at the blissful feeling that was coming over him as he held her, his body so close to hers. The two sat together in peaceful silence, basking in the warmth of their embrace before they gently pulled away.

Harry placed a soft kiss on her temple before he let go, making Hermione inhale sharply at the sensation flowing through her.

Harry looked down at her, feeling a million different things at once…he felt happiness, he felt desire…but the amount of love he had for the girl sitting in front of him was suddenly so overwhelming, his breath caught in his throat. He definitely wasn't used to this feeling.

"_She's_ _so beautiful" _he thought to himself, and he saw a look of surprise cross Hermione's face. "_Merlin, did I just say that out loud?"_

"What'd you say?" Hermione asked softly, hardly able to believe her own ears.

"_Damn" _

I know, I know…really short…and not too great in my opinion but whatever! Please don't say anything about how short it is, it's rather embarrassing and I KNOW it's short so you don't need to tell me. So thanks for reading, and please if you have time, review! Thanks!


	12. Drive Myself Crazy

Meet you there

Chapter 12 – Drive myself crazy

Why didn't I know it  
How much I loved you…  
Why couldn't I show it  
If I had only told you…  
When I had the chance

I drive myself crazy    
Thinking of you  
Made a mistake  
When I let you go   
I drive myself crazy  
Wanting you the way that I do

"Erm…I….you're…" he stammered, unable to form a sentence as he looked around awkwardly.

'_Just tell her you idiot!' _His mind yelled at him.

"You said I was beautiful…" Hermione said quietly, smiling at him shyly, but looking slightly mischievous as well.

"_I know I did, you're bloody gorgeous' _

"Did I?" Harry answered stupidly.

'_Just tell her you idiot! At least ask her out! Do SOMETHING!'_

"Well…erm…maybe I should go…" he said, jumping out of bed, leaving her looking at him strangely, '_You'll__ regret it if you don't tell her now…' _ 

"Harry this is your dorm" she pointed out, looking a little upset.

'_Someone will beat you to it Potter'_

Harry nodded, trying to get the voice in his head to shut up, "Oh, right…well um, maybe you should leave then…" he said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking nervous.

'_Maybe you should leave? MAYBE YOU SHOULD LEAVE!'_

"I don't mean to be rude or anything Hermione I'm just…really…tired"

Hermione looked at him questioningly for a moment, as if trying to see what he was thinking. Harry could've sworn he saw disappointment in her eyes before she sighed and got up herself, "Alright, see you in the morning Harry" she said quietly, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

As she closed the door Harry groaned, tentatively touching the spot on his cheek where she'd kissed him.

"_Well now you've done it you great git" _came the voice in his head once more.

 "Oh shut up" he muttered feeling utterly ridiculous that he was actually talking to himself.

'_You know I'm right' _ 

"I SAID SHUT UP!" he yelled angrily just as the door opened and Ron came in looking slightly surprised.

"Who you yelling at now?" he asked, and Harry rolled his eyes.

"No one" he muttered darkly and climbed back into bed.

But as it turned out, someone had plans for Harry not to sleep at all tonight.

"Erm…Harry?" Ron poked his head through the scarlet curtains looking slightly nervous about something of which Harry had no idea. 

"What is it?"

"I…uh…kind of wanted to ask you something..." Harry simply looked at him, and motioned for him to continue. "It's about Hermione."

Harry sat up straight a little too quickly. "_Merlin was I that obvious?"_

He cleared his throat unnecessarily and looked at his ginger haired best friend, "What about her?" he tried to say casually, though he knew it must've been dreadfully obvious that he was a bag of nerves inside.

"Well you see…I erm…kind of…" Harry looked at him confused, why did he look so nervous…shouldn't it be him, Harry, to be the nervous one? Unless…he was finally admitting it…oh no.

"You like her don't you" Harry said before he had to hear it, feeling like he could die right there in his bed.

Ron looked a bit shocked that he guessed right but he nodded all the same, his ears turning bright red. Harry knew he'd missed his chance.

"Okay…well, we all already knew that…" he said, and Ron looked at him totally nonplussed as he sank on to Harry's bed.

"You _all _knew? How could you have known?" he asked, but Harry shook his head

 "It was just pretty obvious, but its okay we never told Hermione…" he said, looking away.

"Oh…well what do you think I should do?" Ron said slowly, looking rather apprehensive about talking to him about it. 

Harry almost laughed, '_That's rich...asking me" _He thought miserably. "_You want to know what I think? I think you should leave her alone and let me have her!' _ His mind screamed at Ron, wishing he could say it out loud.

"Just tell her the truth…see how she feels" came his dull reply. _"What? Why on earth would you tell him that!" _

Ron looked at him wide eyed, "You honestly think that?" he asked.

Harry shrugged, "Well why not?" he said simply, his mind still shouting at him.

Ron looked immensely relieved as he started to ramble on about how long he'd wanted to tell Hermione, but he'd wanted to see if Harry was okay with it and he'd never had the courage to ask.

'_Well I'm definitely NOT okay with it…' _Harry sighed as he came to the dreadful conclusion. '_But being the kind-hearted 'hero' everyone considers me to be… I'm going to let you take her away from me' _

Harry put his hand through his hair and tried to hide the emotions he knew were showing through his eyes before he looked at Ron, and spoke words that he was baffled were coming out of his mouth, "Well…I think…I think you should do it. I uh…it's fine with me"

Harry gulped down the large lump that was forming in his throat, as Ron had given him a very guy-like one armed hug. He couldn't find one reason why he'd just agreed to let Ron take Hermione away from him… there was no way he'd ever be fine watching Hermione and Ron doing boyfriend-girlfriend type things together.

'_Then why didn't you tell her when you had to chance you silly prat?"_ Harry winced at the thought. That annoying little voice was right; with just a few mumbled words he'd ruined his life.

With a great amount of effort he plastered a smile on his face as Ron backed off.

"It's mean a lot that you're okay with this Harry…thanks" He said, looking very uncomfortable being so emotional.

Harry gave him another entirely forced smile as he watched a grin spread over Ron's face, feeling like he'd swallowed a load of bricks.

"'Night Harry" Ron said happily, practically hopping of his bed.

"Good night Ron" he barely managed without screaming words he long to say to him. He shut his curtains rather violently as he collapsed onto his pillow feeling more miserable than he had for quite a while.

"_I've let her go and I'll never get her back…" _

"Hey, Harry…"

20 minutes before the end of the last class of the day, Ron edged closer to him so he could whisper in his ear.

"I think I'm going to do it after class"

Harry took one look at him, suddenly having a strong urge to shove him off his chair and knock that goofy grin right off his face.

"Okay" Harry managed in a would-be casual voice, before he turned back to copying down the complicated notes on the board mechanically, not paying any attention at all to what he was writing.

It seemed like it was only minutes later that Professor Mcgonagall was clearing up her desk and telling the class to leave. Harry groaned inwardly as Ron smiled nervously at him. "Wish me luck" he whispered, as Harry worked hard not to glare at him.

Ron walked to the front of the class where Hermione had been chatting with McGonagall, talking to her quietly for a moment. She looked back at Harry to indicate she was going with Ron, and Harry forced a painful smile as he waved her off.

He literally felt like he was going to be sick as he walked past Ron and Hermione going into an empty classroom, Hermione looking very confused.

Practically running down the corridors, Harry headed for his dorm the moment he'd gotten into the tower… awaiting the dreadful news from Ron.

Hermione's eyes widened considerably as she looked at her ginger haired friend, who had just confessed that he'd liked her since third year.

She took a tiny step back from him, unable to hide the shock that was evident on her face, "Really?" she asked almost timidly.

Ron had lost his voice completely and all he could do was nod as he laughed nervously, shuffling his feet as he avoided her eyes.

Hermione suddenly felt rather faint as guilt and anxiety began to cloud her senses. Ron liked her…but she liked Harry…and she'd thought things were complicated before! How on earth was she supposed to get out of this one? "_He doesn't have to know that it's Harry…it could be anyone" _her mind replied immediately. "_Yeah…but…" _

"Er…Hermione?" Ron was looking at her meekly, "Can you please say something, I'm dying here."

She looked up at him anxiously and he seemed to know in an instant as his face fell. Uncomfortably, he looked down at his feet. 

"So what is it, you already fancy someone?" He muttered miserably to the ground.

Hermione looked at him, pity in her eyes "I'm so sorry Ron…I'm really flattered but…" she trailed off, not sure of what to say as he looked back at her expectantly. "Well…it's just that…I can't help who I fall in love with and…"

"You're in _love_ with someone?" he said incredulously. 

Hermione shut her mouth immediately, cursing herself. She hadn't meant to say that.

"Please Mione…PLEASE don't tell me it's Krum" Ron moaned.

Hermione shook her head, "Viktor? Please Ron…" she said finding it funny that he'd think she was actually in love with him.

"Who is it then?" he asked looking quite disappointed.

Hermione blushed slightly, "I can't tell you Ron…it doesn't matter anyways, it would never happen" she said quickly.

"Why wouldn't it ever…oh bloody hell is it Malfoy?" he asked looked disgusted.

Hermione laughed so hard she had to hold on to a desk to stable herself, "_Malfoy, _Ron?You honestly think I would ever love a slimey git like him?" she replied, tears coming to her eyes she was laughing so much.

 Ron looked extrememly relieved, "Thank god for that" he said shakily, but he still wouldn't let it go as Hermione kept quiet.

"Well come on then Hermione! Tell me who this scumbag is!" he said loudly and she looked at him sternly.

"Ron, he's not a scumbag and I'm not going to tell you"

Ron sighed, he knew what it was like when Hermione got mad and he didn't want to deal with that at the moment.

Hermione smiled sadly at him and brought him into a hug.  

"I'm really sorry Ron" she said as he hugged her tightly, evidently not wanting to let her go.

"S'okay" he mumbled quietly.

Ron pulled away somewhat reluctantly, "I guess we should go back then" he said, not waiting for her answer as he opened the door and ushered her through.

As they arrived at the fat lady he looked down at her "I hope this won't ruin our friendship or anything Hermione…I just had to tell you" he said quietly and she smiled warmly at him.

"Of course it won't Ron, I'm glad you were honest with me" she said truthfully.

He smiled what seemed like a true smile and leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, "I just wan't you to be happy" he said softly, and she smiled at how sweet he was being.

"Thanks" she said quietly, suddenly feeling a lump in her throat and not knowing why.

"I'm just…going to take a walk" he said, as Hermione was about to say the password.

"Alright" she replied somewhat sadly, waving as he left down the hall.

Instead of going in right away she watched his lone figure walk down the hall…and suddenly she felt horrible. She'd never exactly 'rejected' someone before and to have it be one of her best friends, she felt like she betrayed him in some way...

Hermione felt tears prick the corner of her eyes and she hurriedly said the password, hoping she could get up the stairs quickly so no one had to see her crying.

Unfortunately as she ran as fast as she could up the stairs, she didn't watch where she was going and soon bumped into someone making her topple backwards.

"Whoa slow down Mione" came a predictably familiar voice as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from falling down the stairs.

She looked up reluctantly and found that she'd been right as she looked into the shining emerald eyes. For the first time in her life, looking into those beautiful eyes…they made her feel even worse. They reminded her unpleasantly that Ron loved her, but she loved his best friend.

"_I'm a horrible person"_ she thought to herself, looking down again but she wasn't exactly struggling to get away.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked quietly as he saw a few tears slip down her cheek. They were still standing on the stairs, and he was quite unaware that he hadn't let go of her.

"Did Ron tell you?" he asked, dreading the conversation.

She nodded silently, and Harry's throat went tight. "Oh" he said simply, "…well…what did you say?" he asked, not even bothering to hide the anxiousness in his voice.

She looked up at him, tears falling down her face, "I…I don't like him that way so I had to turn him down, but I feel so awful about it" she sobbed, collapsing into his body and crying softly.

Harry felt rather guilty about it, but relief violently swept through him as he hugged her, letting her cry on his shoulder. He rubbed her back soothingly, whispering comforting words in her ear. "It's okay Hermione I'm sure he understand" he said softly.

Ginny, who'd been watching the two from the couch with Dean, walked over quietly. "Maybe you should take her upstairs Harry" she whispered behind Hermione.

"To her room or mine?" he said but immediately regretted it as Ginny smirked.

"Whatever you want" she said, her face filled with laughter.

Harry rolled his eyes at her and lifted Hermione's legs up under his arms, so he could carry her up the stairs.

However as he reached her dormitory, he saw Seamus and Kate snogging on her bed and decided not to disturb them. He almost laughed as he shut the door as quietly as he could, before turning to go to the 6th year boy's dorm.

Harry was rather relieved to see no one else was in there as he shut the door.

"Hermione?" he asked softly as he placed her legs back on the ground.

She looked up at him reluctantly, her eyes red and puffy from crying. He smiled, still thinking she looked absolutely beautiful and sat her down on his bed, kneeling in front of her.

"Are you all right now?" he asked, moving a wispy piece of hair away from her face as he looked at her.

"Not really" she whispered as she shook her head, a few more tears dropping down her cheek.

Harry sighed sadly, it was breaking his heart to see her so upset. Before he could hold himself back, he did what came naturally and gently kissed her tears away.

Hermione took a sharp intake of breath as he did this, not expecting him to be so affectionate towards her and definitely not expecting the feeling she got when he'd kissed her either.

Harry got up to sit down on the bed next to her, wiping a few more tears away from her face with his thumb, trying to smile comfortingly at her.

"Don't cry Mione, Ron didn't want to make you upset he just wanted to tell you how he felt" he said softly.

Hermione simply nodded as more tears fell down her soft cheeks, she knew Ron hadn't meant to make her feel like this, she just couldn't help feeling horrible…she was utterly responsible for hurting him afterall.

Harry moved closer to her and she automatically leaned into his body, gladly letting him comfort her, both of them enjoying the feeling immensely.

A few silent but pleasant minutes later Harry felt himself getting sleepy. Looking down at Hermione, he saw her eyes closed as she slept peacefully in his arms.

He couldn't help the grin from spreading across his face as he watched her resting against him, it just looked and felt so right.

There was a strong urge for him to lie down with her, but he realized it wouldn't be the best thing for Ron to walk in on at the moment, and decided against it. Harry carefully removed Hermione from his arms as he pulled back his sheets, and gently took off her robes and her shoes, placing her head gingerly on his pillow. He pulled the covers back over her sleeping form and kissed her gently on the forehead. "I love you" he whispered, smiling as he stood up.

The moment Harry reached the bottom of the stairs, Ginny had called him over to the couch eagerly. Dean seemed to have disappeared.

"Is she all right?" she asked concerned.

Harry nodded, "Yeah…she just feels bad that she had to 'reject' Ron" he said, silently feeling giddy as he spoke that wonderful fact.

"Oh right, he told her today didn't he?" she asked, searching Harry's face as he nodded.

"Yeah" was all he said, but a small smile graced his face. Ginny smiled at him as if she knew something.

"What are you smiling at?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"You've got to be the happiest guy on earth right now" she said, laughing lightly.

"Why would you say that?" he asked curiously, although he had some idea.

"Hermione doesn't like Ron, she turned him down" Ginny said simply.

"So…" Harry said, playing innocent.

Ginny scoffed, "You like Hermione"

Harry looked at her and smiled, suddenly deciding he needed someone to know, "No I don't…" he started, and she rolled her eyes, "I don't like her Ginny…I think I'm in love with her"

Ginny's smile couldn't possibly have been any bigger as her face lit up and she let out a high pitched squeal of excitement.

Harry laughed as she threw her self at him, hugged him excitedly.

"Oh I'm so pleased for you Harry, you finally realized it! About time!" She practically yelled as she grinned.  

Harry looked around at the few curious faces, "Ginny, can you yell that a little louder please I don't think the Slytherins heard you" he said sarcastically.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it!" she said happily as she smiled sheepishly, sitting back down and pulling Harry with her.  

"So when did you really notice it?" she asked him.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I feel like I should be wearing pink pyjamas with pigtails in my hair" he said, and she laughed.

"Oh who cares Harry, just tell me!"

Harry sighed in defeat, "Fine! I guess…I finally admitted it to myself the day before we left for school…but if I think about it…I've probably loved her for much longer than that"

Ginny smiled, "Awwwwwww that's so cute" she said in a very typical girl-like voice.

"I knew you would say that" he replied, chuckling.

She smiled warmly at him again, "You know what Harry…" she started, but stopped as she saw the portrait hole open, and Ron came walking in. Harry looked at her sharply, his look warning her not to say anything and she nodded. 

"Hey Ron" Harry said trying to sound upbeat but Ron just looked down at him glumly.

"Hi" he replied dully.

"What's up Ron?" Ginny said, as if she didn't know what had happened.

He sighed and sat down on the couch next to the two of them, "I told her" he said looking at Harry and he nodded.

"Yeah, Hermione kind of told me" he said, and Ron shook his head to himself.

"I can't believe she's in love with someone else and she won't even tell us…"

Harry's felt his heart stop for a moment, "_What?_" he said in almost a whisper.

"Didn't she tell you that?" he asked, and Harry's face contorted in hurt and anger.

Ginny jumped and Ron looked startled as Harry jumped up from his chair. "No, she happened to leave that little piece of information out, actually!" he cried indignantly.

"Oh…well calm down Harry I'm sure she just forgot, why does it matter to you anyway?" Ron said calmly.

"BECAUSE I'M HER FRIEND SHE SHOULD FUCKING TELL ME THESE THINGS!" he roared, not quite sure why he was yelling, but it felt good. He was more hurt than angry, but perhaps this was his way of venting his frustration.

"Harry! There are first years in here can you please watch your language!" A snooty prefect butted in, but backed away as Harry glared at her.

"She's my friend too Harry, don't you think I was a little annoyed!" Ron yelled angrily, and Harry looked at him.

"Ron, you don't l…" he started to say heatedly but Ginny caught him before he could slip up.

"Okay, guys, enough! Both of you need to calm down all right, I'm sure Hermione can explain this later" she said. "And its her business who she likes anyway, she doesn't have to go telling the world!"

Harry and Ron looked at each other and sat down muttering apologies.

A couple minutes of awkward silence later, Ginny spoke up. "Let's just go to dinner, alright?"

The two boys got up simultaneously, not answering her but they followed her out the portrait hole anyway.

The two of them weren't speaking…both of them too busy thinking the exact same pig headed thing.

_Who is this guy messing around with MY Hermione?_

Hope you liked it…it's also edited of course since I tried to edit the whole story just a bit. Nothing major of course, just the way it was written. Anyway, review if you liked it please!


	13. Making Plans

Meet You There

Chapter 13 

~*~

She's all I need  
  


She's all I dream  
  


She's all I'm always wanting…

I'm always wanting you

~*~

As Harry and Ron sat down at the table, Ginny walking around the other side to sit with Dean, Harry spoke up, "Where's the new Defence against the Dark arts teacher?" he asked Ron, but he just shrugged. 

"I don't know, they weren't here last night either, I've got no idea who it is" he said, loading his plate with food. 

"I'll give you a clue" came a voice from behind them, making Harry jump and drop mashed potatoes all over his pants. 

"Shit" he muttered, and waved his wand over his them as he looked up at the mystery person. "Lupin?!" he said, astounded at seeing him there. 

"Professor Lupin, Harry" he said grinning, "And watch your language" he added, but he was laughing. 

"What're you doing here Professor?" Ron asked. 

"I'm the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher" he said simply. 

"But…what about third year? I thought you said the parents didn't want you working here because of…well…you know…" Harry trailed off awkwardly.  

Lupin patted him on the shoulder, "It's all right Harry, because of what happened…well you know…in the Department of Mysteries…everyone seems to be a lot friendlier towards me nowadays" he said, looking like it was hard to not be too emotional about it but Harry suddenly glared at him. 

"Don't talk about that place to me" he said furiously, and turned his back on Lupin, stuffing his mouth with mashed potatoes. 

He heard Lupin sigh behind him, and he knew Ron was looking at him pityingly. "I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to…I know how you feel…" Lupin started, but Harry broke in angrily, 

"No you DON'T know how I feel but you don't need to pity me all right?! I'm fine, why won't…" but he stopped as he saw Hermione walking over to them. He smiled at her, calming down slightly at the sight of her and seemingly forgetting that she'd told Ron she loved someone else, "Scoot over kid" he said to a fourth year who had been sitting next to him with his friends, and he quickly moved out of the way so Hermione could sit down. "Are you feeling better?" he asked quietly, completely ignoring Lupin, although not purposely, who had been watching Harry's action the whole time. 

He smiled, and turned to the red head, "See you in class tomorrow Ron" he said, and left to sit down at the head table. 

Hermione nodded, not noticing Lupin as she concentrated on Harry "Thanks for…comforting me, Harry, I really needed it" she said warmly, and he smiled at her. 

"No problem Mione, I'm always here for you" he said rubbing her leg affectionately for a minute.  Ron was watching them curiously, 

"Erm, guys?" he said, starting to get a little ticked off at the electricity between his friends. They both looked over to him, 

"Sorry Ron I didn't see you there" Hermione said laughing, and Ron smiled awkwardly. 

She looked at him strangely, "Ron, I thought we said we wouldn't let this get awkward" she said sighing, and Ron's ears went red. 

"It's not awkward Hermione" he said immediately, and Harry couldn't help but laugh. Ron glared at him, but he snickered again, 

"Sorry mate, just slipped out" he said simply, patting his friend on the back. Ron looked at him, still a bit ticked off but decided to let it go, and started to laugh. Hermione joined in and pretty soon the three of them were laughing so hard, people were looking at them as if they were mental. 

Ginny looked over at the three friends and smiled, "Look's like the trio's back to normal"

* * *

"Hey, Colin!! Colin!" Harry ran down the hall, running after the slightly star struck teenager. His eyes widened slightly as he saw that it was Harry running after him, but he tried to hide it as he spoke. 

"Yes, Harry?" he asked, looking up at him slightly in awe, as he was quite a bit shorter than Harry who had grown a heck of a lot. 

"Are you in Ginny Weasley's next class?" he asked quickly, and Colin nodded, 

"Yup, Herbology, why?" 

Harry smiled in relief, "Just give her this note will you?" He replied, passing a rolled up piece of parchment to Colin, who took it and put it in his bag. 

"Sure thing, Harry, see you later" 

Harry smiled, "Thanks Colin" he said hurriedly, and ran off towards the Dungeons for potions. "Don't be late, don't be late, don't be…"

"Late, Potter" 

* * * 

Colin swore under his breath, as the Professor told him he was five minutes late, "Sorry Professor Sprout, I was just talking to Harry and he…" he started but she cut him off, 

"I don't care who you were talking to Creevey, just sit down, it's all right you're never usually late." She said laughing lightly, obviously in a good mood. As Colin walked past Ginny's seat, he dropped the note in her lap, unnoticed by Professor Sprout who was now talking loudly about the next activity they were supposed to be doing. 

Ginny looked curiously behind her at Colin, but he wasn't paying attention, so she turned back around and opened the rolled up parchment as quietly as she could, when she saw Harry's writing she got even more curious, and checked to make sure Professor Sprout wasn't looking before she read it with interest, 

_Ginny, _

_I was thinking since Hermione's birthday is coming up soon, we could_

_have some sort of surprise party for her, because it is her 16th birthday_

_and that's usually pretty important, isn't it? Anyway, I just _

_couldn't wait until after classes to tell you, I just wanted to know_

_what you think about it, and please don't tell anyone unless you_

_have to; I really want it to be a surprise. We can talk more about_

_it later with Ron and maybe a couple other people that want to _

_help, meet me in my dorm after your last class,_

- _Harry_

Ginny smiled broadly, this was an excellent idea since Hermione had never really wanted to do much on her birthday, but Ginny thought she just didn't want to bother anyone. She sat there all through her last two classes thinking about it, unable to concentrate on anything, and simply dying to tell someone. But she kept her mouth shut, as Harry requested, and simply waited anxiously for the day to be over. 

* * *

Harry stumbled through the portrait hole, and slammed it noisily behind him, running towards the fire where a group of 6th years were sitting. "Ron, Dean, Ginny, everyone else, come up to my room, quickly!" he shouted as he ran up the stairs. As he saw most of them just sitting there staring at him curiously he glared at them, "Don't ask questions, just get your asses off the couch!!" he yelled. 

They finally got up, all of them looking strangely at each other, besides Ron, Ginny and Dean, who Ginny had told about Harry's plan. They all piled into the boys dorm, right before Hermione came through the portrait hole. 

"Okay, Harry, what was that all about?" Lavender said as she sat down on Neville's bed, with Parvarti, and Neville next to her. A few murmured agreements came up from the rest of them. 

"Sorry I had to rush you, but Hermione was coming." He said simply, and there were many confused faces, 

"So? Why wouldn't you want her to be with us too, don't you like her anymore?" Neville said, and Harry almost laughed at the hilarity of those words, 

"Believe me Neville, I definitely still like her" he said, glancing at Ginny who was smiling at the ground. "Anyways, I didn't want her to know we were up here because we're going to plan a surprise party for her 16th birthday"

Lavender and Parvarti squealed together, "Oooh, I love surprise parties!! When's her birthday?" Ron rolled his eyes at the pair, but was smiling and a few others laughed. 

"The 19th, so it's pretty soon" Harry said, and everyone else nodded. 

Seamus grinned excitedly, rubbing his hands together. "Let's plan this thing then"

* * *

"So tell everyone you can, it doesn't matter really who it is, just no Slytherins because…well I don't think I need to explain myself" 

Everyone laughed, as Harry made a face showing how he felt about that particular house.  

"So, how are we all going to get out of here without Herm…?" Kate started when suddenly there was a knock at the door and they all jumped, 

"Harry?" came an all too familiar voice that usually made Harry's eyes light up, and a grin to cross his face, but his reaction this time was a bit different. 

"Hide!!" he whispered fiercely, and everyone dashed to hide themselves, under the beds, in the wardrobes, in the bathroom, anywhere. Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and threw it over Ron, Ginny and Dean. 

"What are you..?" Ron whispered, but Ginny put a hand over his mouth. 

"Harry take your shirt off" she said quietly and quickly, and Harry looked at the spot where Ginny had vanished, with a shocked expression.

"What?!" Harry said rather loudly, and winced as he heard Hermione speak again, 

"Erm, sorry Harry is it a bad time?" came her voice sounding a bit awkward, 

"No, No, sorry Hermione, one second!!" he yelled through the door. "Why?!" he whispered fiercely to Ginny's direction, 

"Because she'll get distracted and won't ask any questions!" came Ginny's voice quickly, and Harry heard Ron make a small noise of indignation from under the cloak. "Then you can take her down to dinner, and we can all get out of here with out her seeing us!" Harry thought about the extremely weird idea for a second, before making up his mind and whipping of his shirt. He could almost feel Ginny smirking appreciatively at him as he walked towards the door, and was positive that he had heard giggles coming from certain parts of the room. 

As he opened the door, he discovered Ginny had been perfectly right, Hermione looked at him with slightly wider eyes and stammered out, 

"Erm…hi Harry….I um…can't remember why I came up here…there's uh…no one downstairs…" she said, looking around her as if asking for a reason. Harry laughed at her unusual behaviour, though he knew he'd probably act even worse if he'd seen her half naked.

"Sorry Mione, I was just getting changed, do you want to go down for dinner?" he asked, as he quickly grabbed a sweatshirt from the nearest bed and pulled it over himself. 

"Sure" she said, able to contain herself, now that he'd put something on. 

As they shut the door behind them, everyone came out from their hiding spots, most of the girls smiling cheekily to each other and Ron was surprisingly laughing. "Merlin, you're clever Ginny! You'd think she liked him or something!" he said chuckling as he walked towards the door, not seeing the many sideward glances and smirks behind his back.

* * *

"I'm so excited!!" Hermione said the next day as they walked to their first Defense against the Dark Arts Class of the year. "I can't believe I didn't notice him at dinner yesterday!" 

Ron shrugged, "I dunno, I guess you were distracted or something, he didn't really stick around long anyway" he said casually as they sat down in the second row from the front of the classroom.  

"Hey Ron!" The three of them looked up as Lavender walked up to them beaming. Ron looked at her a bit oddly, but gave her a charming smile anyway, 

"Hi Lavender" he said, closing the book he'd opened. "How are you?" 

Lavender smiled "I'm better now" she said sitting on his lap, and the trio looked at her as if she'd grown three heads before she started to laugh, and jumped off Ron's lap. "I'm just kidding Ron, I would never actually say something so cheesy!" she said, giggling, and he laughed along with her. Hermione watched the two continue to flirt happily, and she turned to smirk at Harry who was working hard to keep his face straight. 

Just as he was about to burst out laughing, the door opened, and in walked Professor Lupin. "Good afternoon everyone" he said enthusiastically, setting down his suitcase on the large desk at the front of the room. 

"Good afternoon Professor" the class chirped in unison back to him, as Lavender walked smoothly back to her seat, Ron watching her hips sway as she did this. 

Lupin cleared his throat, looking pointedly at Ron, and his ears when bright red as he snapped his head to the front. Harry chuckled lightly to himself, and Hermione sighed happily beside him, since in her opinion that had to be the sexiest sound ever. 

"Okay, by a show of hand, who was in an association called the DA last year?" Harry started as he heard Lupin ask the question, and felt Hermione jump slightly beside him, as they looked at each other oddly, while Ron wasn't even paying attention. The class seemed to be holding back…no one was putting their hands up. Harry looked around at the many faces who he knew had been in the DA and raised his hand into the air, making the rest of them eventually put their hands up too. 

Lupin looked around at the few people who hadn't raised their hands, "Well for those of you who weren't a part of it, that's all right, I can explain it to you" he said, clapping his hands together, looking almost excited. "Last year, Mr. Potter here, thought of the idea to…" he started but Harry interrupted loudly, 

"It was Hermione's idea actually, Professor" Lupin smiled at him, as Hermione hit him lightly, her cheeks flushing pink. 

"Right you are Harry…Ms. **Granger had the idea to join a little group together to practice defensive magic to use against Lord Voldemort" he said, ignoring the several winces around the room at the name. "As you all should be well aware of, Voldemort has returned and we all need to be prepared if anything should ever happen here at Hogwarts." The room suddenly went deathly silent, but Lupin quirked a small smile, "Which I assure you is very unlikely to happen, but nonetheless, Professor Dumbledore and I still think it's a good idea for you all to know how to defend yourselves" He finished his little speech, and there was a lot of interested murmuring throughout the class room**

"All right, so let's get started shall we…." 

* * *

As class ended, Hermione, Harry and Ron began to walk out of the class, but Hermione spoke up the moment they'd gotten outside. "I think I'm going to go to the library a bit before dinner" she said, putting her wand in her bag. 

Ron rolled his eyes, "Haven't been back a week and you're off to the library already" he said, and Harry laughed while Hermione frowned. 

"That's our Hermione" Harry said patting her fondly on the head, her frown disappearing into a small smile as she walked away, waving over her shoulder. 

"This is good actually, now we can talk about her party" Came a voice from behind, making them jump. 

"Merlin Ginny, don't do that!" Harry said exasperatedly as he saw the pretty red head; she laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder, 

"Whatever, let's go" she said, leading the way.  

Ron sighed in almost annoyance, "What is there to talk about?" he asked as they walked up to Gryffindor Tower. 

Ginny looked at him impatiently, "Well we don't know how we're going to keep Hermione preoccupied while we're getting ready do we?" she said irritably. "We've got to decide what to do" 

"Well we can just take her to Hogsmeade while you're decorating or whatever" Ron said, gesturing to Harry and himself, but Ginny shook her head as they reached the Fat Lady. 

"Someone has to go get the butter beer and candy from Hogsmeade that day, she'd see them" 

Harry frowned slightly, "Uh…I don't want just anybody wearing my invisibility cloak Gin" he said as Ron told the password to the Fat Lady, and they climbed through the portrait hole. 

"I know Harry, that's why I think only one of you should take Hermione out, and the other can buy the party stuff" Ginny said sitting down on a large cushy chair in front of the fire, and motioning for them to do so too. 

But neither of them sat down, "Only one of us?" Ron asked, glancing at Harry uneasily. 

"We have to choose?" Harry said, looking back at Ron in the same way. 

Ginny looked up at the two's slightly anxious faces and laughed, "Yeah you have to choose, but it's not a big deal, just flip a coin" she said casually, and Harry groaned while Ron grinned broadly. 

"Coins hate me, I've never won a coin toss in my life" he said, and Ron couldn't hide his gleeful smile. 

"Touch luck mate" he said patting him on the back, "Got any coins?" 

Harry glared at him as he took a spare sickle out of his pocket and gave it to Ginny, who looked at him reassuringly, but he wasn't very convinced. 

"Okay, Harry you get to call it since you seem to think you're bad at this" Ginny said laughing, and flipping the coin in the air, and catching it in her hand, looking at it laying in her palm, but hiding it from the boys. 

"Uhh..hea…" Harry started to say but he noticed Ginny wince slightly and he quickly changed his mind, "I mean tails…yeah, tails" 

Ron smiled evilly at Harry, "Bad choice their Potter, heads always…" Ginny took her hand away to reveal the coin, smiling triumphantly at Harry, and Ron stopped dead in his tracks. Harry started to laugh happily, "What were you saying Weasley?" he said, a huge grin on his face. 

Ron folded his arms grumbling, "Oh shut up" he muttered as Harry plopped onto the couch still laughing. Ron sat down next him looking miserably into the fire. 

"Why so glum, Ron?" Lavender sat down next him, appearing from no where, with Seamus and Kate behind her. Ron looked at her pretty face, and couldn't help but smile, "I lost a coin toss" he said simply, shrugging as if it didn't matter much anymore.  

"Well what was it about?" she asked curiously. 

"We were just deciding who gets to keep Hermione preoccupied while we're getting ready for her party" Ginny said, smirking at Harry, and he laughed at how she'd made it sound. 

"Ohh, I see…and Harry won?" Lavender said, looking over to Harry with a small smirk on her face. 

"Sure did" said Harry, looking at Lavender, knowing she knew his secret, as her eyes were sparkling. 

"Well I hope you enjoy that Harry" she said smiling, and then stood up, "Do you want to come down to dinner with me Ron?" she asked, playing with her hair as she did. 

"Sure" Ron said immediately, getting up off the couch, looking like he'd completely forgotten about the coin toss. "See you down there" he added to the rest and they all just nodded. 

The minute they'd shut the portrait hole door, they all started to talk again, "Look's like someone likes Ron there doesn't it?" Kate said, and they all laughed, nodding in agreement. 

As everyone continued to talk, Harry went to sit on the arm of Ginny's chair, "So how am I going to preoccupy her, we can't go to Hogsmeade…" he said, and rolled his eyes as Ginny smirked suggestively at him, "and not that" 

Ginny laughed, "And not what Harry? What did you think I was going to say?" she said innocently, and Harry shook his head although he was smiling. 

"I need something she'll really enjoy…" 

"Believe me Harry she'd enjoy…" 

"GINNY!!" 

"Sorry" 

Ginny went into a fit of giggles, and Harry laughed at her insane behaviour, before it hit him. "Hey!! I could take her for a ride on my broom" he said, making Ginny laugh so hard she fell off the chair. 

"Ginny you're sick" Harry said chuckling, "But honestly, I know she hates flying, but I'm sure I could persuade her" 

Ginny stopped laughing and breathed deeply trying to calm herself, "So you're going to try to give her flying lessons?" she asked, a bit more calm. Harry nodded, 

"Sure why not, it'll certainly take up our time" he said casually, but he had a funny look in his eyes although he had a hidden meaning, and Ginny spotted it perfectly. 

"…and of course you like the idea of her holding on to you don't you?" she said smiling, and his cheeks went a bit pink. She laughed lightly, "You're so cute Harry" she said warmly.  

Harry nodded absently as he suddenly remembered something, "Hey Gin…umm you know how I uh…feel…about Hermione…" he started and Ginny smiled nodding, urging him to continue. "Well uh…you know when Ron told Hermione that he liked her?" he asked, and she nodded, not liking where this could be going. "I just remembered, when he came back…he said that she…" Harry cleared his throat, "…that she um...liked someone else…okay well actually she said she **loved **someone else" he finished, looking at his feet, willing his emotions to stay back.  

Ginny looked at him with a slightly sad smile on her face, "Yes she does love someone else Harry, she doesn't feel that way about Ron" she said, wishing she could just tell him, but Hermione had made her swear not to, which in her opinion was absolutely ridiculous. 

Harry looked at her, the hurt evident in his eyes, and Ginny almost felt like she'd done something to him. "Do you know who it is." He said in a hollow voice, now looking past her at the wall. Ginny looked around her awkwardly for an easy escape, and thanked god when she saw Dean walking over to her. 

"Hey Gin, want to go down to dinner?" he asked, putting his hand out for her, and she smiled at him. 

"Sure" she said, getting up. "Sorry Harry, but I can't really talk about that" she whispered to him, before turning back to Dean with a smile, and walking away. 

Harry watched her and Dean talk and laugh happily as they opened the portrait, Dean's arm around Ginny's waist, and he suddenly felt very empty. 

He walked up the stairs to his dorm, and fished out his photo album from under his bed, flipping to his favourite picture of Hermione. No matter how miserable he felt, she could always make him smile… 

He'd never wanted anything more. 

* * *

~*~ Hey everyone!! Okay I tried out a new way of writing my story, I started a new sentence every time another person would talk…someone suggested it to me and I don't know if this is what they meant but I hope I did it right!! Haha just tell me if you guys don't like it and I'll go back to writing like I used to okay?? K so hope you liked the chapter…I thought it was kinda boring because it was basically just planning the party…but next chapter will be better!! Flying lessons heheh !! Review please!! Oh and here's the list of people I wanted to thank for reviewing last time:

Silver Foot, Jacq, Raiona Alvana, Doomikazi, evilfairy 14, Irish Lass1, Kristen, Diet pepsi girl, witchysha, Lindee, X-MenfanRogue 13, Maren LP, Lizz, harryhermione 12, huggablemix, drxd, ears91, Mgranger, Leah6, Melissa37

And there were some questions so here are the answers, to Mgranger thanks for reminding me about that slide thing, I totally forgot about it but it would be too complicated to fix it, so I'll just make sure I don't make the same mistake again but thanks for pointing that out, it is a pretty cute part in the book! 

To Maren LP, sorry I don't know how many chapters the story's going to be yet, we'll just have to see how long it takes me to finish it! But I definitely still have quite a ways to go!

To Kristen, don't worry they won't be admitting their feelings on Christmas….I might have a christmass ball or a dance or something, but they won't admit it then, it'll just be for fun!

To Raiona Alvana , I would never ever make Ron the bad guy, because he is a really funny character, and I think the trio are just too good friends to split up about something like that…Ron will have someone else, he'll get over Hermione, and he'll eventually be happy about H/Hr! And thank you for reminding me about the flying motorcycle!! I have to admit I forgot about it haah I'm so ashamed of myself 

Okay so that's it hope you guys liked it Review please! ~


	14. Soar

~Okay oh my god  I really am extremely sorry! I haven't posted for like…2 months!! I'm very very sorry about that, but the weeks before Christmas were really busy for me because teachers love to just pile it on you before Christmas break! But now that I'm actually on my holiday, I can write…so I wrote this for you guys I hope you like it! I'll probably post the 15th chappie soon after this one, since you all deserve it for waiting so long! Thanks for sticking with me! ~

Meet You There

Chapter 14 – Soar
    
      
    
      
    
    
    
    ~*~
    
    I get lost in your eyes
    
    And I feel my spirits rise
    
    And soar like the wind
    
    Is it love that I am in…
    
    I get weak in a glance
    
    Isn't this what's called romance…
    
    And now I know
    
    Cause when I'm lost I can't let go
    
    I don't mind not knowing what I'm heading for
    
    You can take me to the skies...
    
    It's like being lost in heaven

When I'm lost in your eyes

~*~

Harry swore under his breath as he stubbed his toe getting out of bed, and glared at Ron when he started to laugh as quietly as he could. It was finally the 19th, Hermione's birthday, and they'd both gotten up extra early so they would be there when she woke up. Suddenly Ron tripped over a stray book that he hadn't seen in the dark, and Harry burst out laughing, making Seamus and Dean stir in their sleep while Neville continued to snore. "Why does Hermione have to wake up so early?" Ron grumbled under his breath as Harry helped him up, still laughing. 

"I don't know, maybe all girls do…do you have your present with you?" Harry asked as he picked his up from his bedside table. Ron nodded, and reached under his bed for the wrapped gift. "What'd you get her?" Harry asked Ron as they walked down the stairs into the common room, where there were only about 3 people.  

"Well she likes that muggle group blink 182 right?" he said and Harry nodded. 

"Yeah, that's her favourite band" Harry responded as they sat down in front of the fire. 

"I asked my mum to see if she could find anything to do with them, and send it to me for Hermione's birthday" Ron started, "And she found a lot of stuff actually, but the it was all really expensive so I just got her a sweatshirt" he said, grinning at Harry, clearly pleased with himself.  

"Wow, that's a really awesome present Ron…she's going to love it" Harry said truthfully, but he was starting to feel like his present was a bit stupid. 

"What'd you get her?" 

Harry groaned inwardly at the though of Ron's present being better than his, and he pretended he hadn't heard him. 

"Harry?"

"_Damn…"  Harry thought, as he sighed and started to explain to Ron. _

"Well it's a long story Ron, but me and Hermione used to be best friends…I mean before Hogwarts and I made her…" he started but Ron interrupted. 

"What?!?! What do you mean…when? I mean…how is that possible?!" His mouth was hanging open, and he was obviously very shocked. 

Harry looked around him, not wanting to answer the question but he knew he had too. "We were friends since the minute Hermione was born but…we never saw each other shortly after her first birthday when…" Harry trailed off, and Ron nodded, not needing to ask questions about what he'd meant. However he did need some other answers, 

"Well how did you know each other? I mean we're your parents and hers friends or something? Why wouldn't you tell me? Why wouldn't you get to see each other after…that…happened?" he said in one breath, and Harry looked at him feeling extremely tired. 

"We only just found out this summer…and it's up to Hermione to tell you some of it Ron, let's just drop it for now all right?" Ron looked slightly annoyed and confused but decided not to push it. 

"Fine, we can talk about it later" he agreed.

"Thank you…anyway, I made her this photo album with a bunch of photos in it from when we were really little, till now…she's never seen them before" Harry said dully, feeling ashamed of his sentimental present, when Ron had got her a blink-182 sweatshirt.

"Ohh…well that's a way better present than mine is mate" Ron said glumly, and Harry looked up at him as if he was mad. 

"How do you figure that?? Mine's just a bunch of old photos…yours is a lot better, blink's her favourite band, anyone would love that present!" Harry said, starting to feel angry at himself, although he knew what he'd just said wasn't true. It wasn't just 'a bunch of old photos' It had taken him forever to get them from Hermione's mum and her friends, he'd even done a complicated charm on it to make it play a certain song when it opened. 

Ron shook his head, "I'm betting you put a lot of thought and effort into that…I just got my mum to do mine" he said, looking at himself in disgust. 

"Oh come on Ron, shut it, yours is just as good as mine, don't beat yourself up about it." Harry replied firmly, making it sound as if that was the end of the discussion. Ron sighed, but didn't say anything as they sat in silence. 

About 20 minutes later, they both heard someone walking down the stairs, and grinned as they saw their best friend emerge from the stair case in her pink pyjama bottoms, and a white sweatshirt. "Morning" she said happily, a second before she was pulled into a group hug with Harry and Ron. 

"Happy Birthday Mione" they both said together as they pulled away and she laughed lightly, 

"Thanks…I can hardly believe this" she said, laughing harder as they looked at her with confusion written all over their faces. 

"What's so hard to believe?" Ron asked, and Harry looked at her curiously waiting for her answer. 

"I just can't believe you two are up this early" she said, walking over to the couch in front of the fire, where the 2 wrapped presents were waiting. 

Harry and Ron laughed as they sat down on either side of her, "Believe me, it wasn't the best experience" Harry said chuckling, "I stubbed my toe getting out of bed, and Ron tripped over a book" 

"Yeah, I'm surprised the guys didn't wake up with all the noise we were making" Ron said, laughing a long with the other two. 

"Well thanks for doing that, it was really nice to see you two down here before I was" Hermione said, smiling sincerely at them, and they both shrugged. "No biggie" Ron said, making Harry laugh. "What?" Ron asked. 

Harry shook his head as he continued to laugh, "No idea…that just sounded funny" he said stupidly, "Anyways, what do you want to do Hermione?" he said changing the subject. 

Hermione looked at the two presents on the table, and the boys got the clue. "Oh, right…well uh…open Ron's first" Harry said, and Ron scowled at him, "No, open Harry's…" he started to say, but then seemed to change his mind, "…actually no, open mine first" he said, giving it to her. Harry smiled in relief thinking it was better this way until he realized…if Hermione opened Ron's first, she would automatically compare the two presents. He was about to say something, but Hermione had already started to unwrap it and he quickly bit his tongue to stop the outburst. 

Hermione ripped off the entire wrapping and gasped as she saw the box, "Why….how…?" she stammered, and Ron laughed. 

"Just open it" he said simply, and she looked at him excitedly. 

She bit her lip and slow lifted the lid and gasped once again as she saw the baby pink sweat shirt with the words 'blink 182' on the front, and a little heart on the sleeve. "Oh my god Ron!!!!!" she squealed happily, throwing herself on him, making him bowl Harry over too, and the two boys laugh, though Harry's was pretty forced. 

"I'm guessing that means you like it?" Ron said grinning stupidly at her, and she beamed back at him. 

"I LOVE it Ron!!! Ever since I became a fan of them I've always wanted something like this!" she exclaimed happily, holding the sweat shirt up to herself, and looking at. "They're so hard to get!"

As Harry watched her, his heart sank…there was no was his was going to be able to compare to that. His feelings must have shown on his face, because Hermione looked at him curiously, "Is something wrong Harry?" she asked, looking concerned. Harry looked at her face and couldn't help but smile, 

"No Mione, nothing's wrong…here open my present, it's not as good as Ron's but…" 

"Oh come on Harry, I'm sure yours is just as good" She replied, taking the beautifully wrapped gift out of his hands. "It's so nicely wrapped" Hermione commented, smiling at Harry as she undid the silky white and pink ribbons. Harry shrugged it off, and she laughed lightly at him, but stopped immediately as the album in the box was revealed. 

She stared at it a moment, before looking up at Harry with her eyes shining, her mouth slightly parted and her hand on her heart as if to calm herself. A small smile crossed her face, and he smiled back, understanding perfectly…no need for words. Hermione looked back at the cover of the album, which appeared to be made out of white and pink satin material, similar to the bows on the box. She smiled again as she looked at the two one year old's on the front cover, laughing and smiling at the camera. Tracing her finger over the boys raven black hair, she looked up at the 16 year old version of him, and tears started to fall down her cheeks  

"I can't believe this…" she whispered softly, and as she opened the satin cover she gasped, the book falling to the floor. 

Harry smiled sadly, and picked it up carefully, putting it next to him on the couch. "Do you want to look at it later?" he asked quietly, and she nodded, tears still falling down her face as she pulled him into a hug. Harry closed his eyes while he hugged her, like he always did, trying to savour the moment. But as he opened his eyes when they were pulling apart, he just caught the strange look on Ron's face, as if he understood something. Harry's stomach did a bit of a flip flop… 

"That can't be good…"

* * * 

A few hours later, when many more people had joined them, Ron looked at his watch, "Blimey!! It's already 10:30, we better hurry up and go eat, or I'll be late for detention" he lied, very convincingly, and Hermione looked at him in shock

"You have detention?! Today?" she exclaimed loudly, and he shrugged sadly at her,  "I'm really sorry Hermione, but it couldn't be helped, Snape's got me scrubbing cauldrons and all sorts of other stuff" Harry marvelled at how well Ron was able to lie while looking her right in the eyes, he didn't think he could do that. 

Suddenly, the rest of them chirped in with pre-thought up excuses why they wouldn't be around all day, and Hermione's face fell. "You're all busy? On my 16th birthday…" Everyone's faces looked guiltily at her, forgetting it was all just a plan, and in the end it would most likely be the best birthday of her life. 

"I'm really sorry Hermione, but I really do need help with my Potions, I'm terrible at it" Kate said, and a few others nodded, apologizing again and again, until she stopped them. 

"It's okay, I can just…go to the library or something…" she said sighing, and standing up. 

"Mione wait"

Someone had grabbed her wrist gently, and she turned around to see Harry's face smiling at her. "You haven't hear my excuse yet" 

Hermione rolled her eyes, "What is it Harry"

"I don't have one" he said simply, and she couldn't help grinning slightly. 

"You mean you're not busy?" she asked hopefully and he did the sexy little chuckle that she adored. 

"Of course not Mione, I wouldn't let you be alone on your birthday" he said, and then quickly corrected himself, "Well none of us would really…Ron can't help having detention" 

"I really am sorry Mione" Ron said again and she dismissed it with a wave

"It's okay Ron, really" she said truthfully, feeling a whole lot happier, looking around at everyone else, "Let's just go down to breakfast" 

* * *  

On the way down to the Great Hall, something peculiar was happening. Everyone they passed seemed to know it was Hermione's birthday, even first years were chirping, "Happy Birthday Hermione!" and a couple of them winked at certain members of their group as they left. 

Hermione looked strangely at the people around her, "What did you all do?" she asked laughing slightly, they all shrugged casually, 

"We didn't do anything" Ron said. 

"Yeah, I haven't got a clue how all these people know it's your birthday" Harry added very convincingly. 

Hermione looked at them doubtfully, but suddenly she crashed right into a tall extremely good looking Slytherin, toppling backwards. "Fuck watch where you're…" he started to say, but stopped as he saw who it was. "Oh…sorry Granger" said Draco Malfoy, helping a very astonished Hermione off the ground before anyone else could help. 

Harry  couldn't help but make a small snarling noise at Draco touching her, and he chuckled smugly, "Calm down Potter, I'm only helping" he said with a smirk, and started to walk away down the corridor. He casually looked over his shoulder as he went, "Happy Birthday by the way Granger" he said, with what looked at an attempt at a smile. But it was gone in an instant as he smirked at Harry and Ron, before turning away. 

Hermione looked over at the rest of the group, who were all muttering and looking strangely at Draco's disappearing form. "Okay, seriously what was that all about, did you guys tell him to do that?" She said, not really believing her self, as she saw the disgusted look on the boys faces. 

"You think I would tell that slimy git to talk to you?" Harry and Ron said together, and she laughed, along with the few other girls. 

"Not really" she said, as they all entered the great hall and sat down at the long Gryffindor table. As Hermione looked around she noticed that there was a considerable amount of people still there, and not one teacher was missing, she started to wonder if this had been part of a plan or something, but her thoughts were cut off as Dumbledore stood up, knocking his fork against his glass gently. 

Everyone at their table looked up at him as if they'd been expecting it, everyone except Hermione. "What's going…" she started to ask Ron but he shushed her, much to her annoyance. Hermione jumped slightly as she saw the headmaster look directly at her and smile, then he turned to look at everyone else. 

"As you all may or may not know, it happens to be Ms. Hermione Granger's sixteenth birthday today, and I was hoping we could all sing the traditional muggle birthday song, for those of you who know it." 

Hermione blushed and was about to protest but was cut off once again as the whole crowd started to sing "Happy Birthday to you" loudly. The Gryffindor's were clearly the loudest, and the ones who weren't familiar with the song were trying their best to join in. As it ended, everyone clapped and whistled, except of course many of the Slytherins who had sat there looking appalled and disgusted, but Hermione just caught Dumbledore nod at Harry before he sat down. 

"You did this didn't you?!" Hermione said fiercely to her raven haired friend and he laughed, putting his arm around her shoulders. 

"Why does it matter? You weren't embarrassed were you?" he said jokingly and she let out a laugh, punching him playfully, but rather hard, in his stomach. He didn't even wince, "Pitiful Mione, Pitiful" Harry said and laughed as she tried again. "Come on Hermione, you k now you can do matter than that" he said teasingly, but his face fell slightly as she saw the determined look in her eye. 

"Oh you're in for it now mate" Ron said wincing as Hermione punched him as hard as she could in his rock hard stomach. Harry grunted and leaned over holding his stomach, "Merlin Mione" he  gasped out and Hermione bit her lip. 

"Oh I'm so sorry Harry I shouldn't have…" she started worriedly but stopped her self as Harry and Ron began to laugh madly, Ron giving Harry a high five. 

"Fantastic performance Potter" Ron said in between his laughs and Hermione looked at them indignantly. 

"I though I hurt you Harry!" she exclaimed and Harry covered his mouth, trying to stop laughing.

"No offence Mione, it really doesn't have anything to do with you, I just don't get hurt too easily anymore" he said, still laughing lightly. 

Hermione pursed her lips and looked darkly at him, "Well thanks for humiliating me Harry, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself" she said sarcastically as she poured maple syrup on her pancakes. 

"Awww come on Hermione, I'm only joking around" Harry said, trying to get her to look at him, but she simply picked up her fork and started to eat. "Mione!" Harry looked at Ron for help but he simply shrugged and dug into his breakfast. Harry sighed and turned back to her, "Hermione" she remained the same, but a small smile was creeping up on her face. "Mione please look at me" he said, with no success. Harry got up, determined to get her attention and wrapped his arms around her, "Pleeeeease forgive me Mione" he whined, feeling bold and playfully kissing her cheek. She finally laughed, a blush arising on her face.  

"Okay I give in! I was really only joking anyways" Hermione said while Ron and a few others were laughing at Harry's actions. Harry sat down grinning. 

"I knew that'd work" he said happily, pouring himself some juice

"Kissing her always seems to work" Ron said laughing, and Harry chuckled somewhat awkwardly, but it turned into a full blown hysterical laugh as he saw Ginny smirking at him knowingly, earning himself more than a few

* * *

Eventually everyone that had come down with Hermione earlier was now gone besides Harry and herself. "Well…what do you want to do today?" Hermione asked, and Harry smiled at her. 

"I've already planned it" he said mischievously, "But if there's something you want to do before it we still have time" 

Hermione looked at him curiously, "What have you…" she started but Harry shook his head

"I'm not going to tell you, so you probably shouldn't even try" He said simply and she sighed. 

"Fine…well I can't think of anything I want to do and I want to know what you planned so let's go" she said happily, and he smiled. 

"All right" 

* * *

"Oh no Harry, I am NOT doing that"

Harry and Hermione were standing just outside the broom shed in the Quidditch pitch, a pair of broomsticks in Harry's hands. Harry looked at her smiling, "Come on Hermione it'll be really fun I promise" he said, trying to coax her into taking flying lessons from him. 

"Harry, no it won't be! I'm terrible at flying you know that!" she exclaimed.

"Exactly! That's the point, I'm going to teach you how" Harry explained, simply getting a tired look from her. 

"Harry I am just bad at flying, that's how it is I can't be taught" she said stubbornly. 

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes, "But Hermione that's only because you never practiced, and you never got real good lessons, I'm sure you'd be great if you just stuck with it" he persisted and she shook her head. 

"Harry…okay I've never told anyone this but…" Hermione drifted off looking around her as if someone could possibly hear them from out here. "The reason I hate flying so much is that I...I'm afraid of heights" she said, looking at Harry as if he might laugh. 

Harry didn't laugh, he smiled, once again "Well that just makes me even more insistent that I've got to get you on a broomstick, come on" he said, making it clear that the discussion was over as he began to jog to the middle of the pitch.  

"Harry!!" she yelled frustrated, as she ran after him. Harry laughed as he ran, and soon, as if she could help it, Hermione began to laugh too as she chased him. 

They both reached the middle and Harry looked at her, his features softening as he looked at her now slightly frightened face, "How about you ride with me for a while so you can get used to being up in the air, would that make you feel better?" he asked gently, and she sighed. 

"You're not going to give up are you?" she said dully and he laughed. 

"Nope" he said grinning. 

"Fine" she said in defeat, "But…I think I better ride with you like you said" she added. 

Harry smiled warmly, "Sure" he said happily, dropping Ron's broomstick and getting onto his own. "All right, so I think it'll be better if you sit in front of me" he said, guiding her onto the broom gently. 

"But I can't hold on to you if I'm up here" she said nervously and he laughed. 

"That's okay, it's better this way because I can hold you and help you balance" he said, "It'll be good for you too probably, because you can lean back on me if you want"

Hermione and Harry both smiled to themselves, not knowing the other was doing the same thing. "Right, good idea" Hermione said. 

"Okay are you ready?" Harry asked, positioning him self more comfortably, putting his arms on the broom in front of Hermione. She muttered something incoherent, and Harry took it as a yes, kicking off the ground hard, soaring into the sky. Hermione let out a yelp and covered her eyes. 

"Oh my god, oh my god" she kept whispering under her breath as Harry flew gracefully around and away from the pitch. 

"Hermione" She jumped as Harry whispered into her ear. 

"What?" she said her voice unsteady, yet she knew being up in the air wasn't the only thing that was unsettling her. 

"Open your eyes" he said simply and she almost laughed. 

"No way" Harry chuckled to himself. 

"Believe me Mione you'll really enjoy this a lot more if you can see the view" He said as they soared over the lake. 

"I can see the view any day"

"Not like this you can't"

"Whatever"

Harry laughed again, "Mione I'm determined to make you love flying" and with that he took his hands off the broom to wrench hers away from her eyes. The front of the Firebolt dipped a bit and Hermione screamed while Harry placed her hands underneath his on the broom. 

"Harry you're cra…" Hermione cut her self off as she stared wide eyed at the gorgeous view beneath, and all around her. "Oh my…" she breathed and Harry smiled to himself. He sped up circling around the lake and instead of screaming Hermione started to laugh her face full of happiness, hair whipping in the wind. Harry started to feel the familiar feeling in his stomach as he watched her happy face. Just to see her so happy was making him feel absolutely ecstatic. He found himself grinning for no reason at all besides seeing her so happy, knowing he had a great deal to do with it. 

Hermione looked over her shoulder grinning at her best friend and felt her stomach flip over as he grinned back. "It's not scary at all!" she said happily, spontaneously kissing him on the cheek before turning back around and letting her self sit back into him more, feeling more safe than she ever had before, with him supporting her. 

Harry closed his eyes, zooming around over Hogwarts, feeling so content and happier than he'd ever felt, with her resting against him, having just received a kiss on the cheek simply added to the joyous feeling. He was so lost in his own wonderful thoughts of how this day could be improved that he wasn't even paying attention to flying the broom at all. He opened his eyes to find Hermione looking at him, slightly astonished, "What?" he asked, nervously thinking maybe he'd been talking about his fantasies out loud. 

"You were flying perfectly…with your eyes closed" Hermione said in awe. 

"Oh…right yeah…I guess I do that sometimes" Harry said laughing, glad it hadn't been what he thought it was. 

Hermione looked at him and laughed almost unbelievably, "Here I am, unable to fly under any circumstances, while you can do it with your eyes closed! That's incredible." 

Harry smiled, "I think you're ready for an actual lesson aren't you?" he asked, sensing the 'eager to learn' Hermione coming through. 

She grinned excitedly, "Yeah I am actually, you've got me wanting to fly" she said, and Harry chuckled, turning around and speeding towards the Quidditch pitch. "Merlin Harry you don't have to go so fast!!" Hermione squealed, "Hold on to me I feel like I'm going to fall off!" 

Harry smirked, and wrapped one arm around her waist, enjoying himself, "That better?" he said quietly into her ear and she shivered pleasantly. 

"Yes, thanks" she breathed, unable to think of a witty comment with Harry Potter's arm around her, and that sexy voice whispering in her ear. 

Harry guided his Firebolt gracefully onto the pitch and landed smoothly, although he was amazed how he'd been able to concentrate with Hermione's warm body pressed into his. He only hoped his stupid male hormones hadn't made anything too obvious. He looked down quickly and thanked god as he got off after Hermione. 

"So I'm guessing I'll be riding Ron's broom then?" Hermione asked as she picked it up off the ground. 

Harry smiled "You choose" he said holding out the glistening Firebolt in front of her. 

She looked at him as if he was crazy, "You're not serious" she said, "Your Firebolt is like you're baby…you're going to let **me **ride it?!"

Harry laughed out loud, "True, it may be my baby but…" he looked her in the eyes, "I trust you" 

Hermione smiled, looking into his emerald orbs and felt herself slipping away, she was doing it again. Those eyes were impossible! You could not look into them without losing yourself completely…at least she couldn't. 

Hermione looked away, a mischievous grin creeping over her face as she carefully mounted the broom, "You may regret that Potter" she said, and before he could say anything, she'd kicked off the ground at an incredible speed, leaving him to look up at her a feeling of pride welling up in him as he watched her soar into the sky.

As Harry could feel his love for her surrounding him rapidly he suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Ginny yesterday. "_She does love someone else Harry, she doesn't feel that way about Ron"  So she loved someone else…but as he thought back to the small things that had happened since she'd phoned him that day in the summer…he felt that the feeling he felt weren't exactly one sided. "__Maybe I'm the 'someone else' Ginny means" And with that thought Harry grinned and kicked off, racing after the girl who he couldn't help but be madly in love with.  _

~*~ Hope you liked it, the song at the beginning was "Lost in Your Eyes" by Debbie Gibson, and the title was inspired by a Christina Aguilera song, since it's called Soar, but I kinda got it from the lyrics of the song too…oh and I forgot to mention the artists of the songs in earlier chapters, so….for Chapter 13, the song was called "All of This" by blink 182 featuring Robert Smith from the Cure and in chapter 11 it was "Think Twice" by Eve 6! So please Review and hopefully the next chap will be up soon!~


	15. Everything

Chapter 15 – Everything

You are the strength

That keeps me walking

You are the hope

That keeps me trusting 

You are the light to my soul

You are my purpose

You're everything

You're all I want

You're all I need 

You're everything

Everything

"RON!! LAVENDER! Do you think you could spare a moment of your precious time to actually get off your asses and HELP!?"

Ginny was fuming as she stormed over to the couch and hit her brother hard on the head, "Would you get up you lazy git!?" she yelled and he rolled his eyes. 

"Merlin Ginny, you're getting like mum more and more each day" he said, getting up off the couch, bringing Lavender with him. 

Ginny glared at him, "Oh shut up Ron, just come help us" 

The red head basically had the whole of Gryffindor working on the party, she had a couple first years sitting outside the portrait hole, just in case Harry and Hermione had to come back early. There were a few second and third years getting some food from the kitchens, the fourth years were trying to tidy up the mess that was the common room, and the rest were performing complicated decorating charms to make the place look how Ginny wanted it. 

"Okay, so Lavender, you can help me, Dean, Kate and Seamus do this banner, and Ron you can…you know…go get the you know what from you know where" Ron nodded at his sister and laughed at Lavender's face, as she was looking extremely curious about Ginny's mysterious words. 

"Just don't ask Lav" He said chuckling as he walked casually up the stairs to the boy's dorm to get what he needed. Lavender went to look at Ginny strangely, but she'd already walked away. She sighed; shrugging her shoulders, and went to go help. 

* * * 

"You're doing great Mione!" 

After Harry had caught up with Hermione, he'd taught her exactly how she should fly so she could be safe but have fun at the same time. Much like she was in every other aspect of life, Hermione had been an extremely quick learner.  

Hermione grinned at him as they flew together, "I know!" she said happily, making him laugh at her confidence. 

He looked down at his new watch and his eyes widened, "Bloody hell, where did the time go?! We've been flying for 3 hours!" he exclaimed, surprised.  

Hermione smiled at him, "I guess that's what happens when you're having fun" 

* * * 

Shortly after Ginny had sat down with Seamus, Dean, Kate and Lavender, she had quickly gotten up and stormed away. Dean rolled his eyes as he watched her walk over to the fire and pick up her cloak. 

"What was that all about?" Seamus asked curiously, and Dean shook his head. 

"No clue, all I did was say some stupid joke about that git Malfoy…" Kate and Lavender smirked at each other, "…and she got all angry at me saying how typical it is of a guy to judge someone they didn't even know!" he finished heatedly.  

Seamus looked at him a confused expression on his face, "Why would she be sticking up for Malfoy?" 

Dean looked suspiciously at his fuming girlfriend as she walked past the group, and slammed the portrait door behind her.  

"You've got me, mate…she's been acting very strange lately…" he started to say but Ron interrupted as he sauntered over to the group, clearly hiding something in his robes. 

"Did I just see Ginny leave?" he asked and they all nodded. 

"Yeah, she got angry with me because I made fun of Malfoy" Dean said, and almost laughed at Ron's shocked and confused face. "Don't ask me Ron, I have no idea why she'd be so touchy about that subject" 

Ron looked around at them, a puzzled look on his freckly face, "Okaaay…well I gotta go get…something…so I'll see you in a bit" he said, walking towards the portrait hole, and closing it gently behind him, the exact opposite of how his sister had done it moments ago.

* * *

Ginny was walking rather fast down the hall, not knowing where she was going; just hoping that Dean wasn't coming after her. Lately she'd been extremely defensive of Malfoy. That time on the first day of school, he'd really surprised her by being so observant about the whole Harry/Hermione thing; she'd always thought he must've been really thick to hang out with Crabbe and Goyle. But after that, she'd become intrigued by the flaxen haired Slytherin. 

Speaking of the devil, he had just come around the corner nearly smashing right into her as she let out a small scream. He looked at her and smirked, "Sorry about that Weasley, didn't mean to scare you" he said laughing mockingly. 

"It's hard not to be scared of something that looks like you, Malfoy" she retorted and he looked as if he was going to laugh. 

"Good one Weasel" he said smirking. 

"Are you so thick that you can't think of a different name for me than the one you use for my brother?" she said, not knowing why she was doing this, but they both seemed to be enjoying it in a way. He narrowed his eyebrows at her. 

"Shut up Weasley" was all he could say, and he looked at himself in what looked like disgust. 

"Good one Malfoy" she said imitating him. 

He looked at her in what looked like disbelief, as if he couldn't believe she actually had the nerve to talk back to him, or that he was enjoying it. Although he knew that last comeback of his had been terrible. _"'Shut up' wow, that's real original Draco"_ he thought to himself angrily, she was making him nervous and he didn't like it. The Slytherin opened his mouth to say something else but a sickeningly sweet voice came from behind them, "Drakie!! What are you doing with that…that…Weasley!" Draco rolled his eyes. 

"Fuck off Parkinson" he said tiredly. 

"Drakie!! Don't swear at me! I'm your girlfriend!" Pansy whined and Ginny felt a strange stab of annoyance inside her. 

Draco looked strangely at the pug faced girl, and to the absolute shock and bewilderment of the Gryffindor beside him, he flung his arm around the petite red head's shoulders, "What are you on about Pansy? Ginny's my girlfriend, everyone knows that!" 

Pansy and Ginny's reactions were exactly the same, both of their jaws dropped at Draco saying such a thing, and he roared with laughter, taking his arm away from Ginny's shoulders. "Only joking Parkinson, I just wanted to see your reaction" he said laughing his head off. When he finally calmed down he resumed his composure. "Anyway, just because I went to the Yule Ball with you **two** years ago, that does not mean I'm your boyfriend, so get that straight will you?" 

"Oh come on Drakie…you know you love me, you're just in a bad mood, let's go" Pansy wrapped herself around him, but he threw her off in disgust. 

"Honestly, it's laughable that you think you have a chance with me." he said rudely, shoving her away. 

She suddenly glared at him, "Fine Draco I don't care about you anymore!" she said pouting and Ginny watched him in wonder as Draco laughed coldly at Pansy. 

"Fine with me" he said simply crossing his arms. 

Pansy looked ticked off that her 'plan' hadn't worked, simply glaring at him again and quickly storming away towards the Dungeons. 

"So…where were we?" Draco said turning back to Ginny, who still had her mouth slightly open at his previous actions. He snickered and closed her mouth with his pale finger, "Gave you a shock there didn't I?" 

"Erm…yeah…" she stammered. Ginny's mind was spinning, the touch of his skin on hers was making her feel light headed, and she couldn't think of anything to say that made the slightest bit of sense.  

"You don't sound so confident anymore, Weasley" Draco said smirking, "What happened, did…" but he was cut himself off as he realized Ginny had started to back away slowly. "What's wrong with…?" 

"Stay away from me Malfoy" she said shortly, as she ran down the hall. 

* * *

About an hour later, Harry soared past Hermione, feeling content just to watch her having so much fun. He'd known she'd be a good at flying, honestly, what wasn't she good at? He turned around again to say something, but a white blur flying over the Astronomy tower caught his eye. It was Hedwig, she was their signal, the party was ready. 

Just as he was about to suggest they go inside, Hermione did it for him. She gracefully glided over, "Maybe we should call it quits for today Harry, I'm starving"

Harry smiled gratefully, "Sure, I'm pretty hungry myself actually" he lied as they flew back down, landing smoothly on the pitch. As they were putting their broomsticks away, Harry spoke up "Hey, how about we go up to the common room first, just to see if anyone's back yet" He'd managed to say it without any hint of other reason for wanting to return to the common room, and was rather happy with himself. 

"Okay, whatever you want, I guess Snape might of let Ron off early" she said and they laughed together. 

"I'm sure that would happen" Harry said sarcastically. 

They reached the giant oak doors and Hermione stopped suddenly. Harry looked at her curiously, "Something wrong?" he asked but she shook her head. 

"No, I just wanted to thank you for one of the best birthday's I've ever had….none of our other friends were with us, but you made me forget that" she said smiling at him and he laughed.

"Well I guess I'm pretty distracting sometimes" he said jokingly. 

"Shut up I'm serious!" she said laughing and he stopped. 

"All right your welcome, I'm glad you had fun, so did I" he said seriously. 

"Good" she said, reaching for the door handle, but Harry stopped her. 

"Wait" she looked at him curiously, "Don't I get a hug for planning the best birthday ever?" 

Hermione smiled at him and laughed, "Of course you do, how stupid am I?" she said, wrapping her arms around him happily, ecstatic that he'd been the one to ask her. 

They both pulled away a bit later and Harry opened the door for her, both of them in very good moods. Harry was probably more happy then she was though, if she'd thought that had been one of the best birthday's ever, what would she think when they walked into the common room? 

He could hardly contain his excitement on the way to Gryffindor tower and chose not to speak much. As they turned the corner, Harry felt half nervous, half excited as they stopped in front of the portrait. "Honeydukes" Hermione said and he laughed as the Fat Lady told her she was wrong. "How can I be wrong, what are you on about?" 

"Mione, didn't we tell you about the new password?" Harry said mock innocently, "Gryffindors love Hermione" he said to the fat lady, and Hermione laughed. 

"That's so corny Harry did you think of that?!" she said, as the portrait opened. 

"Ron made it up" Harry said as he climbed in behind her. 

She turned around to say something else, but she realized that she'd stepped into a pitch black common room. "What the…" 

"SURPRISE!!!!!"

Hermione screamed as the room was suddenly filled with light, what seemed like hundreds of kids were screaming surprise at her and confetti was falling all over the place. 

"Happy Birthday!!" some of them said enthusiastically while others were laughing as she simply stood there in a state of shock. 

"Wha…I…how'd…" she stammered unable to speak, and then suddenly looked behind her. "Where'd Harry go?" 

Harry laughed and waved at her, "Right here Mione" 

She looked at him, her face breaking into a grin, "Did you do this?" she asked, as she looked around at everyone, smiling happily at them. 

"Me and Ron and…well everything did something really." Harry said looking at the large group of students. 

"Ginny did a hell of a lot" Ron said laughing at her as she blushed slightly, but shrugged.

"I'm not going to say I didn't" she said laughing lightly with everyone else. 

"So did you know about this, did Harry slip up?" Seamus asked curiously and Hermione shook her head wordlessly. 

"I had absolutely no idea, how on earth did you all keep it from me??" she said truthfully. 

"Well it's really easy to distract you Hermione" Ginny said glancing at Harry pointedly. 

Hermione laughed and blushed as she saw that Harry had noticed Ginny's glance. 

"Well anyways, enough of this, we've got to get you ready!!" Kate said excitedly, as all the girls joined in, dragging Hermione away from the door. 

"Wait, what are you going to do to me??" she said nervously as they continued to pull her up the stairs. 

"Oh you'll see" Lavender said giggling.

10 minutes later…

"Lavender I look like a slut!" 

The girls laughed as Hermione looked in the mirror, cheeks flushed. "Hermione you look awesome, every guy down there will be drooling over you!" 

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Honestly Lavender, I don't want them to be drooling over me, do I have to wear this?" she moaned. 

"Yup" Ginny said simply, "Now come on, let Parvati do your hair, she's really good with those types of spells" 

Hermione sighed, and gave in, reluctantly walking over to the excited Gryffindor. 

* * *

"Finished!" Hermione looked in the mirror, and was surprised to see that she did look pretty good. 

"You _are _good at that Parvati" she said, moving a wisp of hair away from her eyes. Her shiny hair was down, but some of it was pulled to the sides, and the chestnut strands fell down her back in loose curls. 

"You look great Hermione" Kate said smiling at her, "And believe me that dress isn't too revealing, it looks perfect on you"

Hermione looked sceptically at herself, "I don't know about that…but it is nice…I'm not sure if I'm slim enough to wear it though" she said, pulling at the satin material self consciously. 

All the girls looked at her as if she was mad, "Have you seen yourself Hermione, you're gorgeous, what are you on about?!" 

Hermione snorted, "That's ridiculous Gin" 

Ginny scoffed, "Whatever, just let me go downstairs before the rest of you come down, I want to see a certain persons reaction" she said grinning.  

"Who's reaction?" Hermione asked. 

Lavender shook her head, "You're so clueless it's cute Hermione"  

Hermione shrugged, "Well go on Ginny, we'll be down in a minute". 

* * *

"Hey Gin, what're you doing?" Harry asked as she came running down the stairs and over to Harry and Seamus. 

"I just wanted to see your reaction" she said mischievously. 

Harry rolled his eyes, "Right, well where is she…" 

Harry was interrupted as he heard practically every boy in the room, whistling and catcalling at something. He turned around and his heart almost stopped. 

"Holy shit"

It was Hermione they were whistling at and he had no problem understanding why. She was wearing a rather tight red dress that would've made any other girl in the room look extremely slutty…but Hermione pulled it off perfectly.   

"Ginny, what did they do to her?!" He whispered hoarsely not taking his eyes off of Hermione. Ginny laughed at the state of him. 

"Oh that was priceless" she responded basically to herself, still laughing as he continued to stare at her. 

"Merlin…I've never seen another girl as gorgeous as her Gin" he said quietly. 

Ginny smiled at him, "That's sweet Harry, now why don't you go tell her that" 

Harry sighed, "Yeah I know I know, I should tell her everything…its just…" 

"Just what? What's stopping you?" Ginny said frustrated. 

"I can answer you in one word…Ron" he said dully. 

Ginny scoffed, "Oh honestly Harry, Ron will understand, he's too preoccupied with Lavender to notice anyway" 

Harry shook his head, "He still loves her I know he does."

"Hey guys" 

Hermione came walking up to them happily and they smiled at her. 

"Hey Mione, you look amazing" Harry said and she smiled slightly.

"I don't think so, but thanks" she said pulling at the dress again. 

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Hermione you look great all right, let's just go dance" she said pulling the other two with her into the middle of the little 'dance floor' they'd made. 

"Gin, there's no music" Hermione said looking around, but quickly had to eat her words as she heard a band start to play from nowhere, and surprisingly Lavender started to sing from the front of the room, where there now was an area set up for the band… or whoever they'd got to sing. 

"Well now there is" Ginny said happily, "Oh look there's Dean, see you two later!" as she walked away to a non existent Dean, Lavenders started to sing one of Hermione's favourite songs, and both Harry and Hermione laughed to themselves, knowing what Ginny was trying to do.  

"Want to dance?" Harry said grinning and Hermione laughed softly.

"Sure" 

* * *

Harry and Hermione were still dancing three songs later, and Ginny was watching them from Dean's lap, smiling. 

"What are you smiling at Ginny?" Dean asked curiously. 

"Harry and Hermione" she said laughing, "They're so cute" 

Dean rolled his eyes, "Honestly Ginny, if I didn't know better I'd think you still liked Harry" 

Ginny looked at him sharply, "How on earth does that make any sense?" 

Dean shrugged, "Well you're constantly staring at him, and you've been acting kind of weird lately" 

Ginny pushed herself up off of Dean, "Believe me Dean, I don't like Harry, but maybe you ought to be more like him…in fact there's a few boys you could learn from in this school" she said angrily, and stalked off into the crowd. 

* * * 

"I'm going to go get a drink, anyone want one?" Hermione asked, standing up and looking around the group. 

"I'll have one if you're going, please" Kate said happily as she sat on Seamus' knee. 

"Sure" she said smiling, and went off to the snack table. 

But as she was pouring the drinks, she couldn't help but notice a couple who seemed rather busy on a chair behind the table. One of them had striking red hair. 

"I don't know why I ever wanted to get with Hermione, she's nothing compared to you…what is love really anyway? I don't think I actually loved her" 

Hermione felt a sharp pang of hurt in her heart as she heard Ron's drunken voice continue to ramble on, not making the slightest bit of sense.

"I mean, between you and me, I'm sure she can't be too experienced now can she? Remember what she looked like last year?" 

All that she heard after that was a high pitched giggle and the rest was blurred out, as she dropped her glass, the fizzy butterbeer splashing all over the red carpet. Her brain didn't register that Ron was most likely drunk as tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. She got away from the table as fast as she could, and ran up the stairs to her dormitory…or what she thought was her dormitory, she didn't seem to notice she'd ran the wrong way.

* * *

"Umm, I think something happened to Hermione" Dean said, craning his neck in time to see her smash her glass. "She looks upset" 

Harry looked over the top of the couch, "Is she crying??" he said concerned. 

"Maybe one of us should check on her" Parvati said as Hermione disappeared up the stairs. 

"Yeah, I'll go…why would she go in our dorm though…" He said confused as he got up, to follow her. 

Harry reached his dorm, and slowly opened the door to his dorm, "Hermione?" he whispered quietly, but the only response he got was the soft crying of his best friend. 

He walked over to his own bed and saw Hermione sitting on the ground beside it, her knees bent, and her head in her hands. "Mione what happened, what's wrong?" he asked softly, sitting down next to her.

"Am I so unlovable Harry?" she said quietly, not looking at him.

Harry looked at her in utter disbelief, "Why would you say that Mione, of course you're not"

"Harry, I just heard Ron downstairs making it perfectly clear that I'm not good enough for him…" she started, and Harry felt himself immediately angry at Ron for hurting her. He was about to say something, but she went on. 

"…my own father never even told me I was his daughter"

Harry looked at her sadly, putting his arm around her, "Mione that wasn't because he didn't love you, he just thought you deserved better that's all…I know you don't think so, but he did love you, more than anything" 

Hermione shook her head, "I just feel like no one is ever going to love me Harry…not Sirius, not Ron, not…" she trailed off looking at his startling emerald eyes. 

Harry looked down at her, knowing he had to tell her now, "Hermione, haven't you ever heard that the one thing you want more than anything is usually right in front of you" he said softly.

Hermione looked at him with surprise, he couldn't possibly be saying what she thought he was, "What do you mean..?" she said quietly, not daring to believe it. 

Harry cupped her cheek gently with his hand, "Hermione…isn't it obvious?" 

"You're the only one who loves me for who I am, you stick by me no matter what happens, you make me feel like nothing can ever go wrong…I was blind to it before but I've realized that you're everything to me Mione…"

Hermione felt a tear roll down her cheek, unable to believe this was happening. "You're wrong if you think no one loves you because… "  his voice cracked slightly. 

"Mione…" Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat, and her lip began to tremble, as he leaned closer to her, "I love you" he whispered softly before his lips landed gently on hers.

* * *

Bet you didn't expect that to happen eh?? Haha…or maybe you did..whatever..hope you enjoyed it!! Please Review!! Oh and for those of you who think I'm portraying Ron in a bad light…he really isn't the bad guy in this fic, I just needed him to say that, so Harry could comfort her or whatever, he was drunk and didn't know what he was saying, he totally did not mean it. He'll apologize later, the trios friendship won't be ruined, trust me. 


	16. Dazed and Confused

Hey everyone, I edited this chapter, so it's slightly different than it was before, I thought that the fight was way too choppy and it happened too fast, so I kind of fixed that, there's still a bit of a fight but its resolved differently…hope you guys don't mind it…and YES I know it is extremely short…I've got final exams next week….don't have much time to do anything

Chapter 16

Hermione closed her eyes, slipping away into complete bliss as the moment she'd been dreaming about for years became a reality. Harry was being so gentle, so soft, so loving…handling her so carefully as if she was a china doll liable to break any minute, she wasn't used to this type of attention. The room seemed to be spinning in a whirl of emotions as they lost themselves in the moment.

However it was interrupted for a moment as Harry slowly pulled away and rested his forehead on hers, "I'm sorry Mione, I shouldn't have done that…I-I don't know how you feel, I shouldn't assume things…" he whispered breathlessly. Hermione felt a tear slip down her cheek and she shook her head in disbelief as Harry looked at her apprehensively, not having a clue what her actions meant.

"I'm _so_ in love with you Harry" she said shakily, her eyes shining with happiness.

A small smile creeped across Harry's face and he looked down at her, his eyes filled with so many emotions it was hard to keep track of. "You couldn't even begin to imagine how good it feels to hear you say that" he said, sounding rather emotional.

"I think I can" she whispered before she kissed him gently, the pair smiling through their gentle kisses and Harry wrapping his arm around her waist as they lost themselves in their own little world of bliss.

Although she had wanted this to happen, Hermione couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as she felt Harry's need to kiss her more passionately. She was unsure of what she was supposed to do…she'd never kissed anyone so intensely before. Scratch that; she hadn't kissed anyone _at all_ before.

Harry sensed her uneasiness and pulled away, seeing the uncertainty in her eyes. "What is it Hermione, am I making you uncomfortable?" he asked, praying that wasn't the problem.

Hermione shook her head, smiling at him reassuringly. "Of course you're not Harry, I just….erm…" she didn't finish her sentence as she looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her silver bracelet.

Harry watched her in confusion, "What's wrong Mione?" he asked again softly.

She muttered something under her breath but he didn't quite hear her.

"Sorry?"

She sighed and spoke up more clearly, but continued to avoid his eyes. "I've…erm…never really kissed anyone before" she said, blushing furiously, clearly thinking he would laugh at her

Harry was slightly surprised, but smiled at how adorable she was. He gently tilted her head up to look him in the eye, "That's nothing to be ashamed of Hermione, it's not like I'm some pro at it" he said in a soft voice, wanting to make her feel better. "In fact…I'm glad you told me that"

Hermione looked at him in askance, "Why would you be glad, don't you think it's awkward?" she asked, unable to believe they were talking about this as she blushed again with embarrassment.

Harry smiled at her affectionately, "Because that means I'm your first kiss, I consider myself extremely lucky" he said happily, "I'm rather surprised though, Krum really never kissed you?"

Hermione laughed lightly, "Definitely not"

"Well if this is your first then Hermione, I want to make it special for you" he said softly.

Hermione smiled as he kissed her delicately and lifted her up easily, placing her gently on his bed. He grinned as he crawled carefully on top of her and she felt all her anxieties slip away, surrendering to his sweet embrace.

Ginny entered the common room, looking only slightly less angry than she had when she'd left. She quickly scanned the room looking for Harry, thinking Hermione would surely be somewhere nearby. Unfortunately they were no where to be seen. She made an irritated noise in her throat and walked over to the one person who wasn't dancing.

"Have you seen Hermione?" Ginny asked Dean shortly.

"Yeah, she went upstairs a while ago looking pretty upset so…"

"Thanks" she said cutting him off before he'd even got the chance to tell her that Harry was with her.

He sighed and watched his sore tempered girlfriend rush up the stairs to the 6th year girl's dormitory.

No matter how annoyed she was feeling, Ginny wanted to find out what was wrong with her friend, but as she pulled open the door all she saw was a mess of clothes and make up. Hermione was no where to be found.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "That idiot doesn't even know what he's talking about" she said scowling, as she headed over to the boys dorm, thinking perhaps Harry was up here, and he ought to know where she was.

She turned the knob expecting it to swing open automatically. Nope, it was locked. Ginny growled, muttering to herself as she snatched her wand out of her pocket.

"Alohomora" she said fiercely, walking into the room silently, looking for Harry.

Ginny was taken aback and her eyes narrowed angrily as she saw him laying on top of some girl whose face she couldn't see, kissing her tenderly. Her anger for Hermione welled up inside her as she let it take over, not caring if the whole school heard her screaming.

"HARRY! You miserable prick!" she yelled, her eyes flashing as she walked quickly towards him.

Harry groaned as their moment was ruined, not exactly appreciating the 'miserable prick' comment either. Hermione tried to muffle her laughter as she hid her face in embarrassment at Ginny walking in on them.

"I can't BELIEVE you! How could you do this to…" she choked on her words as Harry smirked and simply raised himself up slightly, revealing Hermione's flushed face, laughter in her eyes.

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the absolutely priceless look on Ginny's face as she gawked at the two of them. Hermione soon joined him, the two of them positively glowing as they laughed together.

Ginny squealed as she got her voice back, "You _finally _told each other, I'm so happy for you two, you guys are so cute…look at you, I've never seen either of you looking so happy!" she continued rambling like this for a good couple of minutes before Harry interrupted her.

"Thanks Gin, I really would love to hear you talk about how adorable we are for an hour, but we were kind of in the middle of something here" he said and Hermione laughed, smacking him playfully on the head.

"Don't be so rude Harry" she said laughing lightly.

"_I'm _being rude? She's the one that interrupted the best few minutes of my life!"

Hermione practically melted at his words and smiled at how cute he was, "You know what Gin, I think I have to agree with Potter here." She said pointedly and the red head laughed, while Harry grinned.

"All right sorry, I'm out of here" she said walking out of the room, but couldn't stop herself from turning around one more time "I'm so happy for you two!" she said again. Harry gave her a look, and she quickly shut the door as she laughed.

The moment she was gone Harry re-locked the door with a quick flick of his wand from the side table. He turned to look at Hermione

Harry smiled and kissed her softly, "I should've kissed you the moment I met you"

Hermione returned the smile, "I agree" she said softly before she lifted her head up slightly to kiss him, her nervousness having left her completely.

Any remaining logical thoughts in Hermione's mind were seemingly slipping away as their kisses grew more intense. She felt Harry's tongue trace her lips and opened her mouth slightly as he kissed her passionately.

Harry felt Hermione tugging at his shirt and he wasted no time in helping her pull it off. Hermione ran her hands over his chest and shoulders, shivering pleasantly beneath him as Harry moved his own along her slender arms. He broke their kiss in need of air, but his lips travelled down to her neck as he sweetly placed soft kisses along the sensitive area.

Hermione bit her lip to stop herself from gasping at the feeling of desire he was eliciting inside her as he continued to caress her skin, his head buried in the crook of her neck. He slowly started making his way back up to her face, and smiled as she brought his lips to hers, kissing him intensely.

Harry's hands began to wander downwards, pushing her dress up slightly as he ran his right hand up her smooth leg, if he'd been able to think straight he wouldn't have done this at all, knowing Hermione wanted to go slow. But that was the problem, he couldn't think.

Hermione was abruptly brought back to reality as she felt Harry's hands on her thighs and realized if she didn't tell him to stop now; they might get a bit carried away.

Harry looked down at her in confusion as she pulled away from their kiss, "What's wrong?" he asked breathing harder than usual.

"I think we should stop" she said breathlessly.

"Why?" Harry asked, his hand still under her dress.

"I think we could do something we'll regret Harry" Hermione said quietly, "I'm just not ready for that"

Harry looked ashamed of himself, taking his hand away from her leg and rolling off of her. "I'm sorry Hermione, I got too carried away" he said quietly, "Damn you for being so irresistible" he added chuckling.

Hermione laughed, and blushed slightly. "I'd say you're the irresistible one Potter, look at you" she said smirking as she looked at her half naked best friend up and down.

Now it was his turn to blush. "Shut up Granger" he said laughing, getting of the bed to find his shirt.

Hermione sat giggling on the bed watching him as he found it and pulled it over his body, attempting to smooth out his messy hair and failing miserably.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked chuckling.

"It's hard to believe any of this actually happened I guess" she replied, getting up and looking for a moment, at the ground where'd they'd been sitting earlier.

Harry grinned and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her small waist, "I didn't think I'd ever be able to tell you" he said, "…and I certainly didn't expect you to answer the way you did"

Hermione put her arms around his neck to play with his hair, "Believe me, I was always thinking the same thing…should I tell him, shouldn't I…there's no way he likes me like that…" she said laughing.

He grinned and kissed her softly, "You were actually wrong for once."

"Thank god for that" she said happily

"Are you sure you don't want to just stay up here" Harry said hopefully but she just laughed at his eagerness.

"I don't want to waste the party, I'm sure you went through a lot of trouble to do it" she said, putting her arms back at her sides, but Harry didn't let go of her as he shrugged.

"Ginny helped a lot, and it was fun because it was for you…"

Hermione simply smirked at him.

"…but all right I give up lets go" he said laughing, reluctantly letting go of her.

"Hey wait a sec…" Hermione said as Harry walked towards the door. He turned around to look at her curiously.

"What? Did you change your mind?" he asked grinning.

"No..." she said laughing, "I just wanted to know…what are we going to tell everyone..?" she said rather awkwardly.

"And by everyone, you mean Ron" Harry said with a playful look.

"You know me too well" she said shaking her head.

"Okay…well we could tell him the truth and break his heart…" he said bluntly and Hermione winced at the thought, "Or, we could just keep it a secret from everyone…that way no one gets hurt"

Hermione sighed, "Well I really don't want to hurt Ron's feelings…" she started, and trailed off muttering something under her breath.

"What was that?" Harry asked, unable to hear what she'd muttered.

"Nothing…let's just not tell anyone about any of this" she said quickly, reaching out for the door, but Harry grabbed her wrist gently.

"Ron said something odd to you earlier didn't he?" Hermione turned around trying to look innocent.

"Why would you think that?" she asked avoiding the question.

"Because…before you said he'd made it clear that you weren't good enough for him...or some bullshit like that" he said, a feeling of anger bubbling inside him for a moment.

Hermione avoided the intense stare of Harry's emerald eyes, "He didn't say it to me, I just over heard him" she said, not looking at him.

"Well what did he say; I'm sure it wasn't true whatever it was." Harry said, trying to get her to look at him.

"He was talking to some girl…Lavender I think, and he was just saying some rubbish about how…how I looked last year and that he didn't understand why he'd thought he loved me" she said quietly, fidgeting with her dress.

"He said that he probably didn't even love me anyway" she finished, her eyes glassy as she sighed, still avoiding looking at Harry directly.

She'd expected him to comfort her, or at least start yelling about what an idiot Ron was, but he didn't.

"Why would you care if he doesn't love you…" he said slowly, and Hermione looked at him strangely, "…do you still have feelings for him or something?"

Hermione looked at him astounded, "What, of course I don't, why would you say that!!?" she said shocked.

"Well you seem pretty damn upset about it Hermione" Harry answered back, looking angry.

"Wouldn't you be hurt too if one of your best friends had said something like that about you?!" she replied getting slightly angry her self.

"Not if I knew someone else was head over heels for me, am I just not good enough for you??!" Harry was yelling now, and Hermione backed away from him, knowing how horrible his temper was, but she needed to stand up to him.

"Harry, listen this is complete nonsense, I love you, not Ron, I was just hurt all right?" she said calmly.

Harry looked away angrily, not answering. Clearly he couldn't think of something to say.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "What, now you're ignoring me? Real mature Harry"

Harry glared at her, and was about to say something but she wasn't finished.

"Merlin Harry, you're impossible! Here I am trying to tell you how hurt I was, and all you can think about is your bloody self! Like usual!"

"Like fucking usual!? What in the hell is that supposed to mean Hermione?!" Harry yelled. "I'm never thinking about myself, I'm usually to busy trying not to be bloody murdered!"

"Oh honestly Harry, don't try to get my with the old sympathy routine!" Hermione retorted, but regretted it as she saw the look of hurt on Harry's face.

"Is that really what you think of me Hermione? I'm just some attention seeking prat, always wanting everyone to feel bad for him, always wanting sympathy for his tough life?" he said in almost a whisper. "You think I want all the attention? Merlin Hermione, do you know me at all?"

Hermione suddenly felt guilty, feeling she should apologize but Harry cut her off.

"Maybe you are better of with Ron, Granger…you seem to be more in love with him than me anyway" he said fiercely, "You two would do well together, since you both agree I just LOVE getting attention for something I couldn't even control"

Hermione felt the tears welling up inside her…Harry had called her Granger, but not in a playful way. He was angry with her for something she hadn't even meant to say.

"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean it…" she started but he simply snorted cruelly.

She looked up at him, anger and jealously evident in his eyes. "Harry, why are we doing this?" she said quietly.

Harry looked at her sharply, "Why are we doing what?" he asked impatiently.

"Why are we fighting …everything was wonderful a moment ago…this night is supposed to be perfect" she said softly.

Harry simply stared at her, unwilling to speak. Something inside him knew she was right.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she looked up into his eyes, "Listen to me Harry" she said, putting both her hands on his cheek, making him look her in the eye. "I love _you_, not Ron or anyone else. There is nothing to be jealous about, nothing to be fighting about… I just want to be together, I don't want to be upset with each other…please" she tried to smile, as she looked at him waiting for some sort of response.

Harry looked at the hurt and desperate look in her eyes, and suddenly felt like a complete git. He gently wiped away a few of her tears with his thumb, "I'm sorry" he whispered softly, kissing her gently.

"Ginny was right earlier, I am a miserable prick" he added as he brought her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her small frame.

Harry heard Hermione's muffled laugh against his chest. "No you're not" she said, the smile evident in her voice.

Harry laughed as she pulled back to look at him. "I'm sorry about what I said Harry, I honestly didn't mean it" she said quietly. "I know you're not like that, I just…"

But Harry stopped her "Don't apologize to me Mione, I was being an idiot." He said quietly, ashamed of himself for starting the whole thing. "I didn't mean what I said either, I don't want you to go out with Ron because I want you all to myself" he added jokingly, easing the tension and making Hermione smiled gratefully for it.

"Hey you know what??" Harry said cheerfully and she grinned.

"What?"

"You've still got all your presents waiting to be opened down there" Harry said, nodding towards the door.

Hermione's eyes widened, "Everyone bought me a gift!?" she asked excitedly and Harry nodded.

"Oh I made sure of it Hermione" he said laughing and she grinned again, hugging him quickly before smoothing out her dress and heading towards the door.

"I think we ought to go then, don't you?"

Okay so that's the end of the chapter obviously…I'm not going to write anything else to do with the party because I just don't know what else could happen…I was going to get Harry to sing something to her, but then I thought that might be a bit toooo fluffy because honestly, when does that ever happen in real life. So yeah I know the party was a bit disappointing but oh well…not sure why I wrote that little argument in there…whatever. So for the person who asked why Hermione was upset about what Ron said I'm sure you know now hopefully. I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter…and if you have any suggestions PLEASE TELL ME THEM, I can always use suggestions, I may not use them but I still appreciate it…thanks! Please Review…


	17. Tryouts

Meet You There

Chapter 17 - Tryouts

"Potter!"

Harry jumped slightly as he turned in the corridor, seeing Professor McGonagall looking at him.

"Yes Professor?" he asked, unaware of what he could possibly of done now, he looked at Ron curiously but he simply shrugged.

"No need to look so nervous Potter, it's good news" she explained, "I'm actually quite pleased to tell you that you've been chosen as the new captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

Harry simply gaped at her, not talking for a couple of seconds. He certainly hadn't been expecting that.

"You're joking…" he said in a whisper, positive he hadn't heard her right.

"No I am not joking Potter…you've earned it" She was smiling and looking quite proud, while Ron stood next to him beaming.

"Well done mate!!" he said grinning, patting him on the back.

"Why would you pick me?" he said looking still as if he didn't believe her.

"Come off it Potter, you're a fabulous seeker, an excellent leader and an over all likeable person." She said easily, "…and you're every bit as passionate about Quidditch as Oliver Wood, if not more."

Harry stood there staring at his teacher in disbelief when he suddenly exploded, "Bloody hell I can't believe it!" he shouted looking ecstatic. "Oh I could just kiss you professor! THANK YOU!!"

"Well I'd rather if you didn't Potter but you're most certainly welcome, you deserve it." She said, laughing lightly at his excitement.

Harry just couldn't wipe the grin off his face, as he looked between Ron and McGonagall, seemingly rendered speechless.

"Well I'm glad to see you're so enthusiastic about it" she said, watching him. "But I still need to fill you in on everything else Potter, so follow me will you? He'll join you in a minute Mr. Weasley"

Ron nodded, waving as he went down to breakfast and Professor McGonagall led Harry into her office.

Entering the Great Hall Ron smiled as he saw Hermione, glad she was already there. Harry would probably be happy to tell her the news.

"Morning, Mione" He said happily, sitting down next to her.

"Good morning Ronald" she said coldly, not looking at him.

 Ron looked at her cautiously; clearly something was wrong if she'd called him…ugh…_Ronald. _"What's up Herms, what've I done?" he asked, completely lost.

"Do you remember who you were with yesterday, and what you said to them? Clearly thinking that no one else had heard you?" she said, looking at him angrily. "And please never call me that again"

He scratched the back of his head, "Well I don't really remember much of last night to be honest" he said laughing.

Hermione looked at him sourly, "You're joking"

"No, why, did I make a fool of myself?"

"You made rather an ass of yourself actually" she said shortly.

Ron looked at her strangely, "Hermione did I say something to you, or embarrass you or something?"

She faced him slightly disappointed, "You just…said a few things about me to lavender that's all" 

Ron stared at her, "What'd I…" he started, but suddenly he seemed to remember. "Oh bloody hell Mione…" he whispered, looking like he felt awful.

Hermione sighed, playing with the food on her plate.

"Hermione I didn't mean any of it honestly! I had no clue what I was talking about; I wasn't in my right mind. I think I thought if I said those things, Lavender would just…well never mind." He flushed slightly, "But really Mione…I'm so sorry, I'm really ashamed of myself."

She looked up at him…he did look sincerely upset about it.

"I would've apologized earlier Mione but I didn't remember I'd even said it! Or that you'd heard it for that matter…"

Hermione smiled at him, deciding she needed to get over it. "Ron, it's all right you can stop" she said lightly.

"Are you sure Mione, I'm surprised you're not shunning me or something"

Hermione laughed, "You've said you're sorry Ron, and I believe you" she said simply.

Ron grinned, "You're the best Hermione, thanks"

She smiled at him, but didn't say anything else until she saw Harry bounding down towards them. "What's he so happy about?" she said, his grin making her own face light up as he reached them.

"Did you tell her Ron?" he asked excitedly.

"Nope, thought you'd want to mate" he said chuckling.

"Excellent, guess what Mione?!" he asked, his eyes shining with exhilaration.

Hermione shrugged laughing, "No idea, what is it?" she said curiously.

"McGonagall's made me Quidditch Captain!"

Hermione screamed in delight and jumped up to hug him. "Oh congratulations Harry, you're going to be fantastic!" she said happily as he hugged her back.

"Thanks" he said, grinning from ear to ear.

As they sat down Harry looked to Ron, "We've got to be up at 5 tomorrow to get ready for the try outs" he said, still looking excited but Ron groaned.

"5 in the morning? Why so early??" he said not exactly sharing Harry's feelings. 

"Because we have to get them done before classes start so we can post the list Tuesday morning, and have our first practice" Harry explained.

"But why can't they have them next weekend, what's the rush?" he asked confused.

"Ron, they're already pretty behind. The tryouts were supposed to be last week, but McGonagall says they lost track of time…don't know what they could've been doing" he said, shaking his head as if nothing was more important than Quidditch. Harry nor Ron didn't seem to make too much of this information, but Hermione looked slightly worried.

"What if something's happened…with Voldemort I mean" she whispered, checking to see no one was listening as Ron flinched. She rolled her eyes at him and turned to Harry.

"I mean, the professors are really organized with Quidditch…this would usually never happen. They must be distracted by something else...and I wouldn't be surprised if it was something to do with the Order" she continued, looking rather worried.

Ron and Harry looked at her in slight awe.

"I never would've even bothered to think of it like that" Ron said, shaking his head.

"Well…Voldemort is still in power, and there's no doubt he'll be angry at your last escape Harry…he ought to be planning something, he always is."

"In fact…I'm rather surprised you haven't been having anymore of those weird dreams, like last year." Hermione said, looking at him slightly suspiciously.

Harry looked away from her guiltily, "Erm…"

Hermione glared at him, aghast "Harry! How many have you had, why wouldn't you tell Dumbledore about them?"

"I only had one..."

She looked at him sceptically.

"Two…"

Another look and Ron snorted. 

"ALL RIGHT! Four! But one of them didn't seem to have anything to do with Voldemort and I haven't had one since we got here" he said, looking annoyed with her for knowing him so well. "And two of them weren't really dreams anyway, it was more sensing what he was feeling than anything…that's different"

"Harry, please tell Dumbledore…I just don't want anything bad to happen to you" she said softly.

Ron looked at him seriously, "She's right mate, I reckon you're going to have to take some of those Occlu…ocul…well you know, those lesson thingies"

"Snape refuses to do it any more Ron, I…" but he stopped himself abruptly, forgetting he hadn't told them about what he saw in the Pensieve.

"What do you mean he refuses Harry?" Hermione said sharply, "You said that he told you you'd had enough and you could manage on your own!"

"Well, not exactly…see I kind of…oh just forget it Hermione will you?" He said furious with himself for bringing it up. It had brought back the memories of the vision he'd had on that miserable night last June…maybe if he'd taken those lessons seriously Sirius might still be alive…

"Harry, what happened?" she asked stubbornly, but stopped as she saw the sadness in his eyes as he stared at his plate, and the warning look in Ron's.

She sighed and put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it soothingly as Ron returned to his large pile of pancakes.  

"I'm sorry Harry I won't push it" she said apologetically. "I'm sure everything will turn out eventually"

Later that day in the common room, Ginny came up to the trio, who were all surprisingly immersed in their potions homework. However when she looked closer, Ron was simply doodling on his essay paper and Harry had only wrote two lines on his page.

"Hermione?" Ginny said rather timidly, it was dangerous at times to interrupt her while she was working.

However it seemed she was in a good mood, as she looked up at her calmly. "What is it Gin?" she asked, placing her quill down beside her.

"I need to talk to you" she said, not waiting for an answer as she pulled her friend off of the couch  "I'll only be a minute" she added to Ron and Harry.

Hermione looked at her strangely as she allowed herself to be pulled off to a corner by the portrait hole.

"Is something wrong Ginny?" Hermione asked, looking lost.

Ginny shook her head, "No, I just wanted to talk to you…and Harry too really but that's not possible without looking suspicious…" she trailed off, looking at Ron.

 "All right, what is it?" Hermione asked.

"I just want to know what you and Harry are doing about the situation exactly" she said, and Hermione eyed her oddly.

"What do you mean what are we doing?" she asked, not sure if she liked where this conversation was going.

"I have a feeling you haven't told Ron about it have you? Or anyone besides me for that matter…" Ginny said, looking disapproving of the idea.

Hermione sighed, "Ginny we don't want to hurt Ron! This will just add to his stupid theory that Harry always gets everything Ron wants but can't have!" she explained, trying to keep her voice down.

Ginny nodded as if she understood, "It's natural for his two best friends to not want to hurt him but believe me Hermione, Ron would be more upset if he found out from someone else" she explained rather wisely. "He'll be more hurt that his friends lied to him about something so important."

Hermione was about to say something but stopped as she glanced over at the couch and saw that Ron wasn't there. Harry must have felt her looking at him because he lifted his head up from his work and smiled at her.

"Where's Ron?" she mouthed, not wanting to shout.

Harry got up and walked over to them, "He went to go get something for the prefect meeting" he said and Hermione gasped.

"Oh Merlin, I completely forgot about that!" she said worriedly. "You can talk to Harry about this Gin okay? I have to go!"

At that moment Ron came bounding down the stairs, "Ready?" he asked Hermione and she nodded. They quickly left, waving at the pair hurriedly before closing the portrait rather loudly.

Harry looked at Ginny curiously as she dragged him over to the couch. "What is it we're talking about…?" he asked as he sat down in the chair opposite Ginny.

"Basically I was just telling Hermione that you two ought to tell Ron about whatever's going on" she explained. "I think it's adorable and everything, but you have to tell him."

Harry looked at her amazed, "Do you realize how badly he'd take that? He already seems to be jealous of me, about what I have no idea…but this will just make it worse!" he said, repeating Hermione's thoughts.

Ginny ran a hand through her long mane, "Yeah but Harry, don't you think it would be worse if he found out you two were going out _and _that you lied to him?"

Harry knew she was right but didn't want to admit it, keeping his mouth shut.

Ginny looked at him exasperatedly. "Harry you'll have to tell him one day! You can't hide this forever, and the sooner you tell him the better."

Harry shook his head, "I just don't think he'll understand Ginny, he's never heard me talk about Mione like that he'll think I'm just fooling around with her" he said dejectedly, "I don't want him to think that"

Ginny smiled at him warmly, "Just tell him how much you care for her then" she said softly but he shook his head once again.

"Guys don't talk about that sort of stuff" he said rolling his eyes. "I'm sure he wouldn't want to hear it anyway"

"Ginny looked at him tiredly, "Look, Ron has nothing to be mad about, it's not your fault you love Hermione, he has to understand that! I mean come on…" she continued to talk but Harry interrupted.

"Hermione practically rejected him for me! I always get what he wants and can't have! That's got to be really frustrating for him" He said, bringing his voice back down to a whisper after he realized he'd been talking way too loud.

Ginny rubbed her forehead, as if she had a head ache. "Harry I'm getting sick of this conversation, are you going to tell him or not?"

"We _will_ tell him eventually Ginny, we've just got to wait till the right time all right?" Ginny could sense he was starting to get rather annoyed so she decided not to press it.

"Fine…I just hope you don't regret this Harry, I don't want to have to say I told you so"

Ron woke up the next morning to Harry yelling enthusiastically at him, fully dressed in his Quidditch uniform.

"Come on Ron, it's Quidditch tryouts this morning! We have to go meet up with Katie so we can go down together!" he said, moving around with the air of a child on Christmas morning.

"Bloody hell Harry be quiet, you're going to wake everyone up" he grumbled, groaning as he looked at the time. 5:01am.

Harry simply laughed, "Dean and Seamus are trying out Ron. And Neville's coming down to watch" he said, pulling back Ron's covers.

Ron muttered a few unflattering words as he noticed Dean and Seamus talking noisily while they got dressed, and Neville sitting on Harry's bed already ready.

"You lot are way too cheerful in the morning, honestly" Ron mumbled, getting up to pull on his red and gold uniform.

"Okay everyone, if you're trying out for the chaser positions make two lines in front of me and Katie…if you're trying out for the beater positions, line up in front of Ron."

Harry, Ron and Katie had finally made it down to the pitch, and Harry was clearly excited to start the process. Ron was pleased to see that Katie looked just as drained as he did.

"I hope you all brought along your own brooms, if you didn't you can borrow the schools but you'll need your own if you're going to play on the team"

A couple people looked at each other anxiously, clearly having forgotten theirs, or perhaps not having one. But everyone else lined up happily, clutching their brooms to their sides.

A young and very nervous looking blonde girl stepped up to Harry. He could've sworn she was literally shaking.

"Hi, it's Natalie right?" Harry asked, remembering her from her sorting a while back. He grinned friendly at her as she stared at him in awe, clearly she was quite taken aback that he would know her name.

"Y-Yes I'm Natalie Mc...I mean Macdonald" she spluttered, blushing.

Harry smiled at how cute she was, writing her name down on a piece of parchment, "And what year are you in?"

"Third" she said shakily.

"All right thanks Natalie just stand over there while we get everyone else ready" he said, smiling again and pointing to the middle of the pitch.

She nodded and hurriedly walked away as fast as she could looking mortified.

It went on like this, with many nervous girls and boys of all ages, shivering in the cold as they stood in front of Harry, Ron and Katie. Ginny and Kate had also shown up, along with Dean and Seamus all of them looking rather excited.

When the last chaser had left, Harry and Katie looked up at Ron to see him sitting lazily on the grass waiting for them to finish. "There aren't too many people trying out for beaters" Ron said yawning.

"Oh well, I'm sure we'll find someone" Katie said positively.

"Good attitude Katie, I'm glad we still have you" Harry said laughing as they walked towards the large groups.

And with that, the tryouts were under way. Despite all the kids who had come to try out for the chaser positions, many of them could hardly fly at all, the only chaser that had really wowed him was Ginny. Harry knew he was being really picky, but he just wanted everything to be perfect, he didn't want to let anyone down while he was captain, and he found himself finally understanding Wood's thirst for the Quidditch cup 3 years ago.

At the moment, Harry was watching Ron, Katie and a second year girl attempting to pull off some beater moves. Harry shook his head, sighing and rubbing his temples to get rid of the massive head ache he'd gained from the horrible experience.

The young girl had managed to hit herself with her bat instead of the bludger.

"OKAY GUYS, COME DOWN" he yelled up at the three flyers, trying his best not to sound angry. They all swooped down, the young girl landing rather awkwardly, and blushing profusely as Katie looked at her pityingly.

"That was just embarrassing" Ron muttered as the girl walked away with tears in her eyes.

Harry didn't say anything, but nodded in agreement and gritted his teeth, turning away from him.

"NEXT!" he shouted, trying his best not to let his irritation show through. But as saw little Natalie Macdonald walking towards him clutching her nimbus 2000 nervously, he felt his annoyance ebb away slightly. He didn't want to make the young girl feel worse than she already did.

"Just relax sweetie it'll be fine" Katie said warmly, obviously having taken a liking to her along with Harry.

Ron smiled at her too, "Just pretend all these people aren't here, and we'll see what you can do all right?" he said kindly, but he turned to Harry with a gloomy look on his face. "I hope to god she's better than the others, the last decent effort was Ginny…and that was at least 7 people earlier" he muttered.

Natalie nodded nervously, seeming to relax a little as Harry smiled at her encouragingly.

Ron sighed rather loudly as they all flew up into the air with her to start her tryout, Harry glanced at both him and they shared a similar look of apprehension, bracing themselves for a lousy performance.

A few minutes later, they were sharing looks of astonishment, Natalie had been stunning. She had passed the quaffle with extreme ease to Katie, and caught it every time, not once dropping it, and Harry had only managed to get it away from her twice. She had just scored yet another goal past an astounded Ron when Harry stopped her, grinning.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron yelled happily as Katie hugged the younger chaser with excitement, the two of them floating down to the ground.

"You've got an excellent chance Natalie" Harry said smiling, she'd put him in a very good mood.

Shortly after her performance however, Harry was dispirited. It seemed the bad streak of chasers had returned.

"All right, I think that's it, there's no one left is there?" Harry was asking an hour later. Everyone shook their heads, some of them looking quite ashamed of themselves. "Great, I'll post the list in the common room tomorrow evening, thanks for coming out" he said half heartedly, trying to look appreciative.

Ron swore loudly as they all left the pitch, "That was worse than the keeper try outs last year, honestly."

Katie shrugged, "There were a few good people" she said, yawning as they entered the school. "I'm going back to bed"

Ron watched her go up the stairs, turning to an exhausted looking Harry when she was out of site. "I would mate, but I'm bloody starving"

The moment they sat down at the table, or collapsed into their chair in Harry's case, Ron pulled every possible plate towards him. Harry rested his head on his arms, looking like he was about to nod off any second.

Ron looked at him guiltily, "Hey, maybe you should go back to Gryffindor tower Harry" he said, watching him lift his head up sleepily.

"That's okay Ron, I don't want to leave you alone down here" he replied yawning.

"He doesn't have to be alone mate, we're back" came a voice from behind them, the two of them turning in surprise.

There stood Dean and Seamus looking very alert. Ron grinned at Harry, "There you are Harry, go ahead"

He smiled gratefully at his three friends, "Thanks…I don't think I'll be up there long anyway" he said, getting up and walking down the hall.

He was turning a corner when he saw the one person that could make him smile when he was feeling so miserable. She didn't seem to notice him, as she wasn't watching where she was going, smiling to herself. 

"Hey Mione" 

Hermione looked up startled, but her small smile had turned into a grin as she saw him and for some odd reason, a blush rose on to her cheeks.

"Morning Harry" she replied, with a small smirk as she took in his appearance.

"What are you smirking at me for Mione, you look like Malfoy" Harry said, laughing as she smacked him playfully, but her cheeks went pink again.

"It's nothing…" she said, shaking her head, "How did Quidditch tryout go?" she asked, changing the subject.

Harry looked like he was going to continue teasing her, so she hoped to distract him by putting her arms around his neck, and bringing his face closer to hers. "Did they go well?" she prompted, looking innocently at him as if she hadn't done anything.

Harry laughed, knowing very well what she was doing but he honestly didn't care. He was rather enjoying the feeling of Hermione draping herself over him, and soon enough, his arms had snaked around her small waist.

"They were completely miserable" he answered, pulling her closer to his body and backing her up towards the wall so they weren't in the middle of the corridor.

Hermione smiled warmly at the feeling of being so close to him, "Why, what happened?" she asked, knowing neither of them were really thinking about Quidditch.

"We just…uh…don't have too many, you know, good players here" he stumbled as he watched her run her tongue over her lips in anticipation.

"You must be just knackered" Hermione said, smiling slyly at him.

"I am, yeah" he replied, chuckling in that sexy way that never failed to make Hermione squirm with pleasure.

She looked up at him and no matter how out of character she was acting, she simply couldn't control her desire anymore.

"Enough of this Harry, just kiss me" she said in close to a whisper as her eyelids fluttered shut

Harry was pleasantly surprised at her statement and didn't exactly hesitate to consent to her wishes as he smirked playfully at her before capturing her lips softly. Hermione held back a girlish squeal as she felt his tongue trace her bottom lip and she willingly gave in to him.

She let out a soft, happy sigh into his mouth, as Harry moved one of his hands up to her cheek to stroke it gently with his thumb. Harry felt himself smiling inwardly at the action; he'd never thought he'd see the day when he'd be kissing Hermione in the hall.

As they pulled away for air, Harry opened his eyes to see Hermione smiling at him mischievously. "Every time I've seen you in your Quidditch uniform I think I've secretly wanted to do that" she said blushing.

"Every time I've seen you wearing _anything _I've wanted to do that" Harry replied cheekily and she laughed, hitting him playfully before she kissed him again.

She shivered as she felt Harry's hands slip under her shirt and settle on the smooth skin of her lower back, caressing the skin. Unfortunately, a second later they were disrupted by a sneering voice.

"Well would you look who it is?"

I know I took a horribly long time, but I had my final exams and I was stressed about that and busy and stuff so PLEASE forgive me! I'm sorry, at least now it's summer so maybe I'll have more time to write…hopefully…anyway this chapter was basically a bunch of plot type stuff so perhaps a bit boring…sorry about that but it needs to be done. Oh, and I made a mistake in an earlier chapter, they didn't need three new chasers, they needed one. I re-read the fifth book and it said somewhere in there how only Angelina and Alicia would be leaving, so Katie Bell is still there! Hope you all read this so you don't get confused. Please Review even if it sucked…


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